Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁶ Then she set out with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in Moab how the Lord had taken care of His people [of Judah] in giving them food. ⁷ So she left the place where she was living, her two daughters-in-law with her, and they started on the way back to the land of Judah. ⁸ But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you return to your mother’s house. May the Lord show kindness to you as you have shown kindness to the dead and to me. ⁹ May the Lord grant that you find rest, each one in the home of her husband.” Then she kissed them [goodbye], and they wept aloud. ¹⁰ And they said to her, “No, we will go with you to your people [in Judah].” ¹¹ But Naomi said, “Go back, my daughters, why should you go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb that may become your husbands? ¹² Go back, my daughters, go, for I am too old to have a husband. If I said I have hope, and if I actually had a husband tonight and even gave birth to sons, ¹³ would you wait until they were grown? Would you go without marrying? No, my daughters; for it is much more ^[a]difficult for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has gone against me.”

Ruth’s Loyalty

¹⁴ Then they wept aloud again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law [goodbye], but Ruth clung to her.

¹⁵ Then Naomi said, “Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; turn back and follow your sister-in-law.” ¹⁶ But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people will 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 the same to me [as He has done to you], and more also, if anything but death separates me from you.” ¹⁸ When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said nothing more.

Purpose of This Letter

3 Beloved, I am now writing you this second letter. In this [as in the first one], I am stirring up your untainted mind to remind you, ² that you should remember the words spoken in the past [about the future] by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior given by your apostles [His personally chosen representatives].

The Coming Day of the Lord

³ First of all, know [without any doubt] that mockers will come in the last days with their mocking, following after their own human desires ⁴ and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming [what has become of it]? For ever since the fathers fell asleep [in death], all things have continued [exactly] as they did from the beginning of creation.” ⁵ For they willingly forget [the fact] that the heavens existed long ago by the word of God, and the earth was formed ^[a]out of water and by water, ⁶ through which the world at that time was destroyed by being flooded with water.^{(A) 7} But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly people.

⁸ Nevertheless, do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like one day.^{(B) 9} The Lord does not delay [as though He were unable to act] and is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is [extraordinarily] patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

A New Heaven and Earth

¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will vanish with a [mighty and thunderous] roar, and the [material] elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and the works that are on it will be ^[b]burned up.