Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 127

A song of ascents. Of Solomon.

¹¹ Then the elders and all the people at the gate^(A) said, “We are witnesses.^(B) May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah,^(C) who together built up the family of Israel. May you have standing in Ephrathah^(D) and be famous in Bethlehem.^{(E) 12} Through the offspring the Lord gives you by this young woman, may your family be like that of Perez,^(F) whom Tamar^(G) bore to Judah.”

Naomi Gains a Son

¹³ So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When he made love to her, the Lord enabled her to conceive,^(H) and she gave birth to a son.^{(I) 14} The women^(J) said to Naomi: “Praise be to the Lord,^(K) who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer.^(L) May he become famous throughout Israel! ¹⁵ He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law,^(M) who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons,^(N) has given him birth.”

¹⁶ Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him. ¹⁷ The women living there said, “Naomi has a son!” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse,^(O) the father of David.^(P)

¹⁵ For this reason Christ is the mediator^(A) of a new covenant,^(B) that those who are called^(C) may receive the promised^(D) eternal inheritance^(E)—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.^(F)

¹⁶ In the case of a will,^[a] it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, ¹⁷ because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living. ¹⁸ This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood.^{(G) 19} When Moses had proclaimed^(H) every command of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves,^(I) together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people.^{(J) 20} He said, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.”^{[b](K) 21} In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. ²² In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood,^(L) and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.^(M)

²³ It was necessary, then, for the copies^(N) of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. ²⁴ For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one;^(O) he entered heaven itself,^(P) now to appear for us in God’s presence.^(Q)