Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
He Gives Sleep to His Children
Psalm 127
1 A Song of Ascents. Of Solomon.
Unless Adonai builds the house,
the builders labor in vain.
Unless Adonai watches over the city,
the watchman stands guard in vain.
2 In vain you rise up early and stay up late,
eating the bread of toil—
for He provides for His beloved ones even in their sleep.
3 Behold, children are a heritage of Adonai
—the fruit of the womb is a reward.
4 As arrows in the hand of a mighty man,
so are the children of one’s youth.
5 Happy is the man whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
when they speak with their enemies at the gate.
Who Will Redeem?
4 Meanwhile Boaz had gone up to the gate and sat down there. And all of a sudden, the goel about whom Boaz had spoken passed by. “Come over,” he called, “and sit down here, my friend.” So he came over and sat down.
2 Then Boaz took ten of the town’s elders and said, “Sit down here,” so they sat down. 3 Then he said to the goel, “Naomi, who has returned from the region of Moab, is selling the parcel of land that belongs to our brother Elimelech. 4 I thought I should inform you saying, ‘Buy it in the presence of the people sitting here, and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you want to redeem it, redeem it. But if it will not be redeemed, then tell me, so that I can know, because there is no one else in line to redeem it. I am after you.’”
“I will redeem it,” he said.
5 Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the field from Naomi’s hand, you will also acquire Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the deceased, in order to raise up the name of the deceased over his inheritance.”
6 The kinsman said, “Then I cannot redeem it for myself, or else I might endanger my own inheritance. You, take my right of redemption for yourself, for I cannot redeem it.”
7 Now in the past in Israel, one removed his sandal and gave it to another, in order to finalize the redemption and transfer of a matter. This was a legal transaction in Israel.
8 So the kinsman said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself,” then took off his shoe.
9 Boaz announced to the elders and all the people: “You are witnesses today that I have bought from Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and Mahlon. 10 Moreover, I have acquired Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Mahlon to be my wife in order to raise up the name of the deceased over his inheritance, so that the name of the deceased will not be cut off from his brothers or from the gate of his town. You are witnesses today.”
6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Messiah died for the ungodly. 7 For rarely will anyone die for a righteous man—though perhaps for a good man someone might even dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Messiah died for us. 9 How much more then, having now been set right by His blood, shall we be saved from God’s wrath through Him. 10 For if, while we were yet enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved by His life. 11 And not only that, but we also boast in God through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.