Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁵ ¶ Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God;

⁶ who made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is therein; who keeps truth for ever:

⁷ He who does justice unto the oppressed; who gives bread to the hungry. The LORD looses the prisoners:

⁸ The LORD opens the eyes of the blind; the LORD raises those that are bowed down; the LORD loves the righteous:

⁹ The LORD preserves the strangers; he raises up the fatherless and widow; but the way of the wicked he turns upside down.

¹⁰ The LORD shall reign for ever, even thy God, O Zion, from generation to generation. Halelu-JAH.

¹³ ¶ So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife, and when he went in unto her, the LORD gave her conception, and she bore a son.

¹⁴ And the women said unto Naomi, Blessed be the LORD, who has not left thee this day without a redeemer, whose name shall be famous in Israel.

¹⁵ And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy soul and a sustainer in thy old age, for thy daughter-in-law, whom thou doth love, who is better to thee than seven sons, has given birth.

¹⁶ And Naomi took the child and laid it in her bosom and was his nurse.

¹⁷ And the women, her neighbours, named him, saying, There is a son born to Naomi, and they called his name Obed. This is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

¹¹ ¶ Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,

¹² waiting for and desiring earnestly for the coming of the day of God, in which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?

¹³ Nevertheless we, according to his promises, wait for new heavens and a new earth, in which dwells righteousness.

¹⁴ Therefore, beloved, seeing that ye hope for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot and blameless.

¹⁵ And have as saving health the patience of our Lord, even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him has written unto you

¹⁶ in almost all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, among which are some things that are hard to understand, which those that are ignorant and unstable twist, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.

¹⁷ Ye, therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things in advance, be on guard lest by the error of the wicked ye be deceived with the others and fall from your own steadfastness.

¹⁸ But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and until the day of eternity. Amen.z