Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Song of degrees for Solomon.
1 ¶ Unless the LORD builds the house, they labour in vain that build it; unless the LORD keeps the city, the watchmen watch in vain.
2 It is vain for you to rise up early, to come home late, to eat the bread of sorrows, because he shall give his beloved sleep.
3 Behold, sons are a heritage of the LORD, and the fruit of the womb is to be desired.
4 As arrows in the hand of a mighty man, so are the young men.
5 Happy is the man that has filled his quiver with them: he shall not be ashamed when he speaks with the enemies in the gate.
11 And all the people that were in the gate and the elders, said, We are witnesses. The LORD make the woman that is come into thy house like Rachel and like Leah, who built the house of Israel; and be thou a man of valour in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem;
12 let thy house be like the house of Pharez, whom Tamar bore unto Judah, of the seed which the LORD shall give thee of this young woman.
13 ¶ So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife, and when he went in unto her, the LORD gave her conception, and she bore a son.
14 And the women said unto Naomi, Blessed be the LORD, who has not left thee this day without a redeemer, whose name shall be famous in Israel.
15 And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy soul and a sustainer in thy old age, for thy daughter-in-law, whom thou doth love, who is better to thee than seven sons, has given birth.
16 And Naomi took the child and laid it in her bosom and was his nurse.
17 And the women, her neighbours, named him, saying, There is a son born to Naomi, and they called his name Obed. This is the father of Jesse, the father of David.
15 ¶ And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, so that death intervening for the redemption of the rebellions that took place under the first testament, those who are called might receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
16 For where a testament is, there must also of necessity intervene the death of the testator.
17 For a testament is confirmed by the death: otherwise it is not valid as long as the testator lives.
18 From which came that not even the first one was dedicated without blood.
19 For when Moses had read every commandment of the law to all the people, taking the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, he sprinkled both the book and all the people,
20 saying, This is the blood of the testament which God has commanded unto you.
21 Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry.
22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.
23 ¶ So that it was necessary that the figures of the heavenly things should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
24 For Christ is not entered into the sanctuary made with hands (which is a figure of the true), but into the heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us,
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