Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Unless the Lord Builds the House

A Song of ^(A)Ascents. Of Solomon.

¹¹ Then all the people who were ^(A)at the gate and the elders said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman, who is coming into your house, like Rachel and Leah, ^(B)who together ^(C)built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in ^(D)Ephrathah and ^(E)be renowned in Bethlehem, ¹² and may your house be like the house of Perez, ^(F)whom Tamar bore to Judah, because ^(G)of the offspring that the Lord will give you by this young woman.”

Ruth and Boaz Marry

¹³ So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And he went in to her, ^(H)and the Lord gave her conception, and she bore a son. ^14 (I)Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without ^(J)a redeemer, and may his name ^(K)be renowned in Israel! ¹⁵ He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, ^(L)who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.” ¹⁶ Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap and became his nurse. ^17 (M)And the women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi.” They named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

¹⁵ Therefore he is ^(A)the mediator of a new covenant, so that ^(B)those who are called may ^(C)receive the promised eternal inheritance, ^(D)since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.^{[a] 16} For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. ¹⁷ For ^(E)a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. ¹⁸ Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated ^(F)without blood. ¹⁹ For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took ^(G)the blood of calves and goats, ^(H)with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, ²⁰ saying, ^(I)“This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.” ²¹ And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both ^(J)the tent and all the vessels used in worship. ²² Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and ^(K)without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

²³ Thus it was necessary for ^(L)the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. ²⁴ For Christ has entered, not into holy places ^(M)made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God ^(N)on our behalf.