Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Boaz Will Redeem Ruth

3 Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, “My daughter, shall I not seek ^[a]security for you, that it may be well with you? ² Now is not Boaz ^(A)our ^[b]kinsman, with whose maids you were? Behold, he winnows barley at the threshing floor tonight. ³ Wash yourself therefore, and anoint yourself and put on your best clothes, and go down to the threshing floor; but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. ⁴ It shall be when he lies down, that you shall ^[c]notice the place where he lies, and you shall go and uncover his feet and lie down; then he will tell you what you shall do.” ⁵ She said to her, “^(B)All that you say I will do.”

⁶ So she went down to the threshing floor and did according to all that her mother-in-law had commanded her. ⁷ When Boaz had eaten and drunk and ^(C)his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain; and she came secretly, and uncovered his feet and lay down.

¹⁷ “But as the ^(A)time of the promise was approaching which God had assured to Abraham, ^(B)the people increased and multiplied in Egypt, ¹⁸ until ^(C)there arose another king over Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph. ¹⁹ It was he who took ^(D)shrewd advantage of our race and mistreated our fathers so that they would ^[a](E)expose their infants and they would not survive. ²⁰ It was at this time that ^(F)Moses was born; and he was lovely ^[b]in the sight of God, and he was nurtured three months in his father’s home. ²¹ And after he had been set outside, ^(G)Pharaoh’s daughter ^[c]took him away and nurtured him as her own son. ²² Moses was educated in all ^(H)the learning of the Egyptians, and he was a man of power in words and deeds. ²³ But when he was approaching the age of forty, ^(I)it entered his ^[d]mind to visit his brethren, the sons of Israel. ²⁴ And when he saw one of them being treated unjustly, he defended him and took vengeance for the oppressed by striking down the Egyptian. ²⁵ And he supposed that his brethren understood that God was granting them ^[e]deliverance ^[f]through him, but they did not understand. ^26 (J)On the following day he appeared to them as they were fighting together, and he tried to reconcile them in peace, saying, ‘Men, you are brethren, why do you injure one another?’ ²⁷ But the one who was injuring his neighbor pushed him away, saying, ‘^(K)Who made you a ruler and judge over us? ^28 (L)You do not mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday, do you?’ ²⁹ At this remark, ^(M)Moses fled and became an alien in the land of ^[g]Midian, where he ^(N)became the father of two sons.