Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Naomi’s Family in Moab
1 During the time[a] of the judges,(A) there was a famine in the land.(B) A man left Bethlehem[b](C) in Judah with his wife and two sons to live in the land of Moab for a while. 2 The man’s name was Elimelech,[c] and his wife’s name was Naomi.[d] The names of his two sons were Mahlon[e] and Chilion.[f] They were Ephrathites(D) from Bethlehem in Judah. They entered the land of Moab and settled there. 3 Naomi’s husband Elimelech died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 Her sons took Moabite women as their wives: one was named Orpah and the second was named Ruth. After they lived in Moab about 10 years, 5 both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two children and without her husband.
Ruth’s Loyalty to Naomi
6 She and her daughters-in-law prepared to leave the land of Moab, because she had heard in Moab that the Lord had paid attention to His people’s need by providing them food.(E) 7 She left the place where she had been living, accompanied by her two daughters-in-law, and traveled along the road leading back to the land of Judah.
8 She said to them, “Each of you go back to your mother’s home.(F) May the Lord show faithful love to you as you have shown to the dead and to me. 9 May the Lord enable each of you to find security(G) in the house of your new husband.” She kissed them, and they wept loudly.
10 “No,” they said to her. “We will go with you to your people.”
11 But Naomi replied, “Return home, my daughters. Why do you want to go with me? Am I able to have any more sons[g] who could become your husbands?(H) 12 Return home, my daughters. Go on, for I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me to have a husband tonight and to bear sons, 13 would you be willing to wait for them to grow up? Would you restrain yourselves from remarrying?[h] No, my daughters, my life is much too bitter for you to share,[i] because the Lord’s hand has turned against me.”(I) 14 Again they wept loudly, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. 15 Naomi said, “Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her god.[j](J) Follow your sister-in-law.”
16 But Ruth replied:
Do not persuade me to leave you
or go back and not follow you.
For wherever you go, I will go,
and wherever you live, I will live;
your people will be my people,
and your God will be my God.
17 Where you die, I will die,
and there I will be buried.
May Yahweh punish me,[k](K)
and do so severely,
if anything but death separates you and me.
18 When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped trying to persuade her.
Psalm 146
The God of Compassion
1 Hallelujah!
My soul, praise the Lord.(A)
2 I will praise the Lord all my life;
I will sing to my God as long as I live.(B)
3 Do not trust in nobles,
in man, who cannot save.(C)
4 When his breath[a] leaves him,
he returns to the ground;
on that day his plans die.(D)
5 Happy is the one whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord his God,(E)
6 the Maker of heaven and earth,
the sea and everything in them.(F)
He remains faithful forever,(G)
7 executing justice for the exploited
and giving food to the hungry.(H)
The Lord frees prisoners.(I)
8 The Lord opens the eyes of the blind.(J)
The Lord raises up those who are oppressed.[b](K)
The Lord loves the righteous.(L)
9 The Lord protects foreigners
and helps the fatherless and the widow,(M)
but He frustrates the ways of the wicked.(N)
10 The Lord reigns forever;
Zion, your God reigns for all generations.(O)
Hallelujah!
New Covenant Ministry
11 But the Messiah has appeared, high priest of the good things that have come.[a] In the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands (that is, not of this creation(A)), 12 He entered the most holy place once for all, not by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.(B) 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow, sprinkling those who are defiled, sanctify for the purification of the flesh,(C) 14 how much more will the blood of the Messiah, who through the eternal Spirit(D) offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse our[b] consciences from dead works to serve the living God?(E)
The Primary Commands
28 One(A) of the scribes(B) approached. When he heard them debating and saw that Jesus answered them well, he asked Him, “Which command is the most important of all?”[a]
29 “This is the most important,”[b] Jesus answered:
Listen, Israel! The Lord(C) our God, the Lord(D) is One.[c] 30 Love(E) the Lord your God(F) with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind,(G) and with all your strength.[d](H)[e]
31 “The second is: Love your neighbor(I) as yourself.(J)[f] There is no other command(K) greater than these.”
32 Then the scribe said to Him, “You are right, Teacher! You have correctly said that He is One, and there is no one(L) else except Him.(M) 33 And to love(N) Him with all your heart, with all your understanding,[g] and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, is far more important than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices.”(O)
34 When Jesus saw that he answered intelligently, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”(P) And no one dared(Q) to question Him any longer.
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