Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 37
Do Not Fret Because of Evildoers
Heading
By David.
Do Not Be Frustrated by the Wicked
1 Do not fret because of evildoers.
Do not be envious of those who do wrong,
2 for like grass they will wither quickly.
Like green plants they will wilt.
Trust in God’s Goodness
3 Trust in the Lord, and do good.
Dwell in the land and feed on faithfulness.[a]
4 Take pleasure in the Lord,
and he will grant your heart’s desires.
5 Commit your way to the Lord.
Trust in him, and he will act.
6 He will make your righteousness shine like light,
your justice like noon.
7 Be silent before the Lord. Wait patiently for him.
Do not fret when an evil man succeeds in his ways,
when he carries out his wicked schemes.
Consider the Final Destiny of the Wicked
8 Let go of anger and abandon rage.
Do not fret—it leads only to evil.
9 For evildoers will be cut off,
but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the earth.
10 After a little while the wicked will be no more.
When you search for them at their place, they are not there.
11 But the meek[b] will inherit the earth.
They will enjoy plenty of peace.
12 The wicked person plots against the righteous.
He gnashes his teeth at him,
13 but the Lord laughs at the wicked,
because he sees that his day is coming.
14 The wicked draw their sword,
and they bend their bow
to make the poor and needy fall,
to slaughter those whose ways are upright.
15 Their swords will pierce their hearts,
and their bows will be broken.
Be Satisfied With God’s Blessings
16 Better the little that one righteous person has
than the wealth of many wicked people,
17 because the arms of the wicked will be broken,
but the Lord upholds the righteous.
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.”
10 Then Ruth bowed down with her face to the ground. She said to Boaz, “Why have I found favor in your eyes, so that you acknowledge me even though I am a foreigner?”
11 Boaz replied to her, “I have been fully informed about all that you did for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband and how you left behind your father and mother and the homeland of your relatives, and you came to a people whom you did not know previously. 12 May the Lord reward your work, and may you be paid in full by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge!”
13 Then Ruth said, “I have found such favor in your eyes, my lord, for you have comforted me and you have spoken to the heart of your servant girl—although I cannot be compared to one of your servant girls.”
14 At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come here and eat some of the food, and dip your piece of bread into the sour wine.”[g] So she sat down beside the reapers, and Boaz heaped up a serving of roasted grain for her. She ate until she was full and had some left over.
15 When she got up to glean, Boaz ordered his workers, “She may glean even among our sheaves. You are not to humiliate her in any way. 16 In fact, you can even pull out some stalks from the piles for her, and you can drop them on purpose so that she can glean them, and do not rebuke her at all.”
Woe to the Rich
5 Come now, you who are rich, weep and cry aloud over the miseries that are going to come upon you. 2 Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. 3 Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have stored up treasure in these last days. 4 Listen, the wages that you failed to pay the workers who reaped your fields are crying out! And the cries of the harvesters have entered the ears of the Lord of Armies. 5 You have lived for pleasure on the earth and led a life of luxury. You have fattened your hearts on the day of slaughter. 6 You condemned and murdered the Righteous One.[a] Does he not oppose you?[b]
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.