Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 146
Praise Him for Protection
Praise for Protection
1 Praise the Lord.[a]
A Lifetime of Praise
Praise the Lord, O my soul.
2 I will praise the Lord as long as I live.
I will make music to my God as long as I exist.
No Help in Humans
3 Do not trust in human helpers,[b]
in a mortal man who cannot save you.
4 His spirit departs.
He returns to the ground he came from.
On that day, his plans have perished.
Help in the Lord
5 Blessed is everyone who has the God of Jacob as his help.
His hope is in the Lord his God,
6 the Maker of heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything which is in them.
He is the one who stays faithful forever.
7 He obtains justice for the oppressed.
He gives food to the hungry.
The Lord releases prisoners.
8 The Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down.
The Lord loves the righteous.
9 The Lord watches over the aliens.
The fatherless and the widow he sustains,
but he turns aside the way of the wicked.
An Eternity for Praise
10 The Lord reigns forever.
Your God, O Zion, rules for all generations.
Praise the Lord.
Ruth Meets Boaz
2 Now Naomi had a relative[a] of her husband, a wealthy, generous[b] man from the clan of Elimelek. His name was Boaz.
2 Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “I am going to go out to the fields, so that I can glean[c] ears of grain wherever I may find favor in the eyes of the owner.” Naomi said to her, “Go ahead, my daughter.”
3 So Ruth went out and gleaned in the grain fields after the reapers. It happened that she was in the field that belonged to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek. 4 At just that time, Boaz happened to come out from Bethlehem. He said to the reapers, “The Lord be with you!”
And they said to him, “The Lord bless you!”
5 Then Boaz asked his servant who was in charge of the reapers, “Whose young woman is this?”
6 The servant who was in charge of the reapers answered, “She is the young Moabite woman who returned with Naomi from the territory of Moab. 7 She said, ‘Please let me follow the reapers and glean and gather stalks into sheaves.’ So she came and has been working from early morning till now—except for a short rest in the shelter.”[d]
8 Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter.[e] Do not go off to glean in some other field. In fact, do not leave this one at all! Just stick close to my young women here.[f] 9 Keep your eyes on the field where the men are reaping so that you can follow my women. I have commanded the young men not to touch you. When you are thirsty, you may go to the jars and drink from whatever the young men draw out.”
A Righteousness Apart From the Law by Faith
21 But now, completely apart from the law, a righteousness from God has been made known. The Law and the Prophets testify to it. 22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all and over all[a] who believe.
In fact, there is no difference, 23 because all have sinned and fall short of the glory[b] of God 24 and are justified[c] freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God publicly displayed as the atonement seat[d] through faith in his blood. God did this to demonstrate his justice, since, in his divine restraint, he had left the sins that were committed earlier unpunished. 26 He did this to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so that he would be both just and the one who justifies the person who has faith in Jesus.
27 What happens to boasting then? It has been eliminated. By what principle[e]—by the principle of works? No, but by the principle of faith. 28 For we conclude that a person is justified by faith without the works of the law. 29 Or is he only the God of the Jews? Is he not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, also of the Gentiles, 30 since there is one God who will justify the circumcised person by faith and the uncircumcised person through the very same faith. 31 So are we doing away with the law by this faith? Absolutely not! Instead, we are upholding the law.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.