Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Ruth Meets Boaz

2 There was a rich man named Boaz living in Bethlehem. Boaz was one of Naomi’s close relatives^[a] from Elimelech’s family.

² One day Ruth, the Moabite, said to Naomi, “I think I will go to the fields. Maybe I can find someone who will be kind to me and let me gather the grain they leave in their field.”

Naomi said, “Fine, daughter, go ahead.”

³ So Ruth went to the fields. She followed the workers who were cutting the grain and gathered the grain that was left.^[b] It happened that part of the field belonged to Boaz, the man from Elimelech’s family.

⁴ Later, Boaz came to the field from Bethlehem and greeted his workers. He said, “The Lord be with you!”

And the workers answered, “And may the Lord bless you!”

⁵ Then Boaz spoke to his servant who was in charge of the workers. He asked, “Whose girl is that?”

⁶ The servant answered, “She is the Moabite woman who came with Naomi from the country of Moab. ⁷ She came early this morning and asked me if she could follow the workers and gather the grain that was left on the ground. She rested only a short time in that shelter.”^[c]

⁸ Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen, child. Stay here in my field to gather grain for yourself. There is no need for you to go to any other field. Continue following behind my women workers. ⁹ Watch to see which fields they go into to cut the grain and follow them. I have warned the young men not to bother you. When you are thirsty, go and drink from the same water jug my men drink from.”

How God Makes People Right

²¹ But God has a way to make people right, and it has nothing to do with the law. He has now shown us that new way, which the law and the prophets told us about. ²² God makes people right through their faith in^[a] Jesus Christ. He does this for all who believe in Christ. Everyone is the same. ²³ All have sinned and are not good enough to share God’s divine greatness. ²⁴ They are made right with God by his grace. This is a free gift. They are made right with God by being made free from sin through Jesus Christ. ^25-26 God gave Jesus as a way to forgive people’s sins through their faith in him. God can forgive them because the blood sacrifice of Jesus pays for their sins. God gave Jesus to show that he always does what is right and fair. He was right in the past when he was patient and did not punish people for their sins. And in our own time he still does what is right. God worked all this out in a way that allows him to judge people fairly and still make right any person who has faith in Jesus.

²⁷ So do we have any reason to boast about ourselves? No reason at all. And why not? Because we are depending on the way of faith, not on what we have done in following the law. ²⁸ I mean we are made right with God through faith, not through what we have done to follow the law. This is what we believe. ²⁹ God is not only the God of the Jews. He is also the God of those who are not Jews. ³⁰ There is only one God. He will make Jews^[b] right with him by their faith, and he will also make non-Jews^[c] right with him through their faith. ³¹ So do we destroy the law by following the way of faith? Not at all! In fact, faith causes us to be what the law actually wants.