Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁶ So she got up with her daughters-in-law to return from the land of Moab, for in the land of Moab, she had heard that the Lord had visited His people by giving them food. ⁷ She set out from the place where she had been, with her two daughters-in-law, and they went on their way to return to the land of Judah.

⁸ Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each to her mother’s house. May the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with your deceased husbands and with me. ⁹ May the Lord grant that you each find rest in the house of another husband.”

Then she kissed them, and they raised their voices and wept aloud. ¹⁰ They said to her, “We will return with you to your people.”

¹¹ But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters. Why would you go with me? Are there sons in my womb, who could become your husbands? ¹² Turn back, my daughters! Go, for I am too old to have a husband. Even if I thought that there was still hope for me, that I could have a husband tonight and give birth to sons, ¹³ would you wait until they were grown? Would you refrain from getting married? No, my daughters. It is much more bitter for me than for you, for the hand of the Lord has turned against me.”

¹⁴ Then they raised their voices and wept aloud once more. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.

¹⁵ Naomi said, “Look, your sister-in-law has returned to her people and her gods. Return with her!”

¹⁶ But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to turn back from following you. For wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you stay, I will stay. Your people shall be my people and your God my God. ¹⁷ Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord do thus to me, and worse, if anything but death separates you and me!” ¹⁸ When Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more to her.

The Promise of the Lord’s Coming

3 This is now, beloved, the second epistle I am writing to you, in which I am stirring up your sincere minds by way of reminder, ² that you should remember the words that were spoken previously by the holy prophets and the commandment of our Lord and Savior spoken through us, the apostles.

³ Know this first, that there shall come scoffers in the last days who walk after their own lusts, ⁴ and say, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things have continued as they were since the beginning of the creation.” ⁵ For they willingly ignore that, by the word of God the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed standing out of the water and in the water, ⁶ by which the world that then existed was flooded with water and perished. ⁷ But by the same word, the heavens and the earth that now exist are being reserved for fire, kept for the Day of Judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

⁸ But, beloved, do not be ignorant of this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. ⁹ The Lord is not slow concerning His promise, as some count slowness. But He is patient with us, because He does not want any to perish, but all to come to repentance.

¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat. The earth also and the works that are in it will be burned up.