Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁶ Naomi received news from Judah that the Lord had helped his people.^[a] There was now enough food in Judah again. So Naomi decided to leave Moab and return to Judah with Ruth and Orpah.

⁷ Naomi and her sons' wives left their home in Moab. They began to travel together on the way back to Judah. ⁸ On the way, Naomi said to Ruth and Orpah, ‘Listen! You should return to your mothers' homes in Moab and stay there. Your husbands are dead now. You have been kind to them and to me. I pray that the Lord will be as kind to you. ⁹ I also pray that God will give to each of you another husband and a new home.’ Naomi kissed them and said ‘goodbye’. Ruth and Orpah began to weep loudly. ¹⁰ They said to Naomi, ‘No! We will go with you to live with your people.’

¹¹ But Naomi said, ‘My daughters, you should return to your own country. You should not choose to come back to Judah with me. I will not give birth to any more sons for you to marry them. ¹² Return to your own country, my daughters. I am too old to marry another husband. Even if I did marry a man immediately, when might I give birth to sons? ¹³ I am sure that you do not want to wait until they are old enough for you to marry them! Would you wait all that time and not marry anyone else? So, my daughters, you must not return to Judah with me. You should not have to share my pain. The Lord has turned against me.’

¹⁴ Ruth and Orpah wept loudly again. Orpah kissed Naomi and she said ‘goodbye’. But Ruth would not leave Naomi. She held on to her. ¹⁵ Naomi said to Ruth, ‘Look! Orpah has returned to her family. She has returned to serve the gods of Moab. Go back home with her.’

¹⁶ Ruth said to Naomi, ‘Do not say that I must leave you. I will go with you, wherever you go. I will live wherever you live. You belong to Israel's people. I will belong to them too. Your God will be my God. ¹⁷ I will die in the same place that you die. That is where people will bury me. I will stay beside you until death makes us separate. If I ever leave you, the Lord should punish me.’

¹⁸ Then Naomi understood that Ruth would not agree to return to her own country. So she stopped saying that Ruth should leave her.

The Lord Jesus will certainly come back to earth

3 My friends, this is the second letter that I have written to you. I have written both these letters to help you to understand some things. You already know these things. I want you to think about them in a good way. ² I want you to remember the messages from God that his own prophets spoke a long time ago. Also, I want you to remember what our Lord Jesus told you to do. He is the one who saves us. He sent us, his apostles, to teach you his message.

³ The first thing that you should understand is this. In the last days of this world, some people will laugh at you because you believe in God.^[a] These people will do whatever bad things they want to do. ⁴ They will say: ‘Christ promised that he would return to this world. But he has not returned! Our ancestors have already died, but since God made the world in the beginning, nothing has changed.’

⁵ These people choose to forget things that they really know. A long time ago, God spoke his word and he made the sky and the earth. He caused land to come up through water. He made the land to be separate from the water.^{[b] 6} Also, God used water to destroy that same world long ago. He spoke his word and he covered the land with water.^{[c] 7} But God has also spoken his word to say what will happen to the world in a future time. The sky and the earth that we see now will continue for a time. But God is keeping them until the day when he will destroy them with fire. On that day he will judge all people. He will destroy the people who have turned away from him.

⁸ My friends, here is one thing that you must remember. In the Lord God's mind, one day and 1,000 years are the same. For him, 1,000 years is like a single day. ⁹ The Lord is not being slow to do what he has promised to do. Some people may think that he is being slow to do it. But he is being patient with you. He does not want to destroy anyone. He wants all people to turn away from the wrong things that they do.

¹⁰ The great day of the Lord will suddenly happen. That will surprise people, like when someone comes to rob them. There will be a very loud noise in the sky. The whole sky will go away. Fire will burn the whole universe and it will destroy everything. The earth and everything that people have made will then become clear.^[d]