Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

The Threshing Floor

3 Then Naomi, Ruth’s mother-in-law, said to her, “My daughter, maybe I should find a husband and a good home for you. That would be good for you. ² Boaz is our close relative.^[a] You worked with his women servants. Tonight he will be working at the threshing floor. ³ Go wash yourself and get dressed. Put on a nice dress, and go down to the threshing floor. But don’t let Boaz see you until he has finished eating his dinner. ⁴ After he eats, he will lie down to rest. Watch him so that you will know where he lies down. Go there and lift the cover off his feet.^[b] Then lie down there with Boaz. He will tell you what you should do about marriage.”

⁵ Then Ruth answered, “I will do what you say.”

⁶ So Ruth went down to the threshing floor and did everything that her mother-in-law told her to do. ⁷ After eating and drinking, Boaz was very satisfied. He went to lie down near the pile of grain. Then Ruth went to him very quietly and lifted the cover from his feet and lay down by his feet.

¹⁷ “The number of our people in Egypt grew. There were more and more of our people there. The promise that God made to Abraham was soon to come true. ¹⁸ Then a different king began to rule Egypt, one who knew nothing about Joseph. ¹⁹ This king tricked our people. He treated them badly, making them leave their children outside to die.

²⁰ “This was the time when Moses was born. He was a very beautiful child, and for three months his parents took care of him at home. ²¹ When they put him outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him. She raised him as her own son. ²² The Egyptians taught Moses everything they knew. He was powerful in all he said and did.

²³ “When Moses was about 40 years old, he decided to visit his own people, the people of Israel. ²⁴ He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he defended him. Moses hit the Egyptian to pay him back for hurting the man. He hit him so hard that it killed him. ²⁵ Moses thought that his people would understand that God was using him to save them. But they did not understand.

²⁶ “The next day, Moses saw two of his own people fighting. He tried to make peace between them. He said, ‘Men, you are brothers! Why are you trying to hurt each other?’ ²⁷ The man who was hurting the other one pushed Moses away and said to him, ‘Did anyone say you could be our ruler and judge? ²⁸ Will you kill me just as you killed that Egyptian yesterday?’^{[a] 29} When Moses heard him say this, he left Egypt. He went to live in the land of Midian, where he was a stranger. During the time he lived there, he had two sons.