Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

1 ¶ Now it came to pass in the days when the judges governed that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem of Judah went to sojourn in the fields of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.

² And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem of Judah. And they came into the fields of Moab and continued there.

³ And Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons,

⁴ who took wives for themselves of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth; and they dwelt there about ten years.

⁵ And Mahlon and Chilion both died also; and the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.

⁶ ¶ Then she arose with her daughters-in-law, to return from the fields of Moab, for she had heard in the field of Moab how the LORD had visited his people to give them bread.

⁷ Therefore she went forth out of the place where she had been and her two daughters-in-law with her; and they went on the way to return unto the land of Judah.

⁸ And Naomi said unto her two daughters-in-law, Go, return each of you to thy mother’s house; the LORD deal with you in mercy as ye have dealt with the dead and with me.

⁹ The LORD grant you that ye may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voice and wept.

¹⁰ And they said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto thy people.

¹¹ And Naomi replied, Go back, my daughters; why must ye go with me? Do I have more sons in my womb that they may be your husbands?

¹² Turn, my daughters, and go back, for I am too old to have a husband. Even if I should say, I have hope, if I should have a husband tonight and should also bear sons,

¹³ should ye tarry for them until they are grown? Should ye stay without husbands because of them? No, my daughters, for I have greater bitterness than you because the hand of the LORD has come out against me.

¹⁴ And they lifted up their voice and wept again, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth cleaved unto her.

¹⁵ And she said, Behold, thy sister-in-law has returned to her people and to her gods; return thou after thy sister-in-law.

¹⁶ And Ruth said, Do not intreat me to leave thee or to return from following after thee, for wherever thou goest, I will go; and wherever thou shalt lodge, I will lodge; thy people shall be my people and thy God my God.

¹⁷ Where thou diest, I will die, and there will I be buried; let the LORD do so unto me and let him give unto me that only death shall part thee and me.

¹⁸ When she saw that she was courageous to go with her, then she left off speaking to her.

¹ ¶ Halelu-JAH. Praise the LORD, O my soul.

² In my life I will praise the LORD; I will sing praises unto my God while I live.

³ Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man in whom there is no salvation.

⁴ His spirit shall go forth, he shall return to his earth; in that very day all his thoughts shall perish.

⁵ ¶ Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God;

⁶ who made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is therein; who keeps truth for ever:

⁷ He who does justice unto the oppressed; who gives bread to the hungry. The LORD looses the prisoners:

⁸ The LORD opens the eyes of the blind; the LORD raises those that are bowed down; the LORD loves the righteous:

⁹ The LORD preserves the strangers; he raises up the fatherless and widow; but the way of the wicked he turns upside down.

¹⁰ The LORD shall reign for ever, even thy God, O Zion, from generation to generation. Halelu-JAH.

¹¹ But Christ being now come, high priest of the good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation,

¹² neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the sanctuary designed for eternal redemption.

¹³ For if the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctified to the purifying of the flesh,

¹⁴ how much more shall the blood of the Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from the works of death to serve the living God?

²⁸ ¶ And one of the scribes came, having heard their dispute and knowing that he had given a good response unto them, asked him, Which is the principal commandment of all?

²⁹ And Jesus responded unto him, The principal of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God, the Lord is one;

³⁰ and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy thought and with all thy strength: this is the principal commandment.

³¹ And the second is like it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is no other commandment greater than these.

³² Then the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth, that God is one, and there is none other outside of him;

³³ and to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the soul and with all the strength and to love his neighbour as himself is more than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices.

³⁴ Then Jesus, seeing that he responded wisely, said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that dared ask him any question.