Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

All Good Things Come from God

A song for going up to worship. Of Solomon.

Boaz Marries Ruth

4 Boaz went to the city gate. He sat there until the close relative he had mentioned passed by. Boaz called to him, “Come here, friend! Sit down here!” So the man came over and sat down. ² Boaz gathered ten of the old men who were leaders of the city. He told them, “Sit down here!” So they sat down.

³ Then Boaz spoke to the close relative. He said, “Naomi has come back from the country of Moab. She wants to sell the piece of land that belonged to our relative Elimelech. ⁴ So I decided to say this to you: If you want to buy back the land, then buy it! Buy it in front of the people who live here and in front of the elders of my people. If you don’t want to buy it, tell me. I am the only person after you who can buy back the land. If you don’t buy it back, I will.”

And the close relative said, “I will buy back the land.”

⁵ Then Boaz said, “When you buy the land from Naomi, you must marry Ruth, the dead man’s wife. She is the woman from Moab. That way, the land will stay in her dead husband’s family.”

⁶ The close relative answered, “Then I can’t buy back the land. If I did, I might lose what I can pass on to my own sons. I cannot buy the land back. So you buy it yourself.”

⁷ Long ago in Israel when people traded or bought back something, one person took off his sandal and gave it to the other person. This was their proof of purchase.

⁸ So the close relative said, “Buy the land yourself.” And then he took off his sandal.

⁹ Then Boaz spoke to the elders and to all the people. He said, “You are witnesses today of what I am buying from Naomi. I am buying everything that belonged to Elimelech and Kilion and Mahlon. ¹⁰ I am also taking Ruth as my wife. She is the Moabite who was the wife of Mahlon. I am doing this so her dead husband’s property will stay with his family. This way, his name will not be separated from his family and his land. You are witnesses this day.”

⁶ Christ died for us while we were still weak. We were living against God, but at the right time, Christ died for us. ⁷ Very few people will die to save the life of someone else. Although perhaps for a good man someone might possibly die. ⁸ But Christ died for us while we were still sinners. In this way God shows his great love for us.

⁹ We have been made right with God by the blood of Christ’s death. So through Christ we will surely be saved from God’s anger. ¹⁰ I mean that while we were God’s enemies, God made us his friends through the death of his Son. Surely, now that we are God’s friends, God will save us through his Son’s life. ¹¹ And not only that, but now we are also very happy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Jesus we are now God’s friends again.