Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 127

A Song of ^[a]Ascents. Of Solomon.

¹ Except the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; except the Lord keeps the city, the watchman wakes but in vain.^(A)

² It is vain for you to rise up early, to take rest late, to eat the bread of [anxious] toil—for He gives [blessings] to His beloved in sleep.

³ Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.^(B)

⁴ As arrows are in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth.

⁵ Happy, blessed, and fortunate is the man whose quiver is filled with them! They will not be put to shame when they speak with their adversaries [in gatherings] at the [city’s] gate.

4 Then Boaz went up to the city’s gate and sat down there, and behold, the kinsman of whom Boaz had spoken came by. He said to him, Ho! Turn aside and sit down here. So he turned aside and sat down.

² And Boaz took ten men of the elders of the city and said, Sit down here. And they sat down.

³ And he said to the kinsman, Naomi, who has returned from the country of Moab, has sold the parcel of land which belonged to our brother Elimelech.

⁴ And I thought to let you hear of it, saying, Buy it in the presence of those sitting here and before the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it; but if you will not redeem it, then say so, that I may know; for there is no one besides you to redeem it, and I am [next of kin] after you. And he said, I will redeem it.

⁵ Then Boaz said, The day you buy the field of Naomi, you must buy also Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of the dead man, to restore the name of the dead to his inheritance.

⁶ And the kinsman said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest [by marrying a Moabitess] I endanger my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it.^(A)

⁷ Now formerly in Israel this was the custom concerning redeeming and exchanging. To confirm a transaction, a man pulled off his sandal and gave it to the other. This was the way of attesting in Israel.

⁸ Therefore, when the kinsman said to Boaz, Buy it for yourself, he pulled off his sandal.

⁹ And Boaz said to the elders and to all the people, You are witnesses this day that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s and all that was Chilion’s and Mahlon’s from the hand of Naomi.

¹⁰ Also Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Mahlon, I have bought to be my wife to restore the name of the dead to his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brethren and from the gate of his birthplace. You are witnesses this day.

⁶ While we were yet in weakness [powerless to help ourselves], at the fitting time Christ died for (in behalf of) the ungodly.

⁷ Now it is an extraordinary thing for one to give his life even for an upright man, though perhaps for a noble and lovable and generous benefactor someone might even dare to die.

⁸ But God shows and clearly proves His [own] love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) died for us.

⁹ Therefore, since we are now justified (^[a]acquitted, made righteous, and brought into right relationship with God) by Christ’s blood, how much more [certain is it that] we shall be saved by Him from the indignation and wrath of God.

¹⁰ For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, it is much more [certain], now that we are reconciled, that we shall be saved (daily delivered from sin’s dominion) through His [^[b]resurrection] life.

¹¹ Not only so, but we also rejoice and exultingly glory in God [in His love and perfection] through our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom we have now received and enjoy [our] reconciliation.^(A)