Judges 21:25 - Ruth 4:22

In the days when the judges ruled, there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

There was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, left his hometown to live as a stranger in the land of Moab. The man's name was Elimelech, his wife's name was Naomi, and his two sons were named Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah.

When they arrived in the plains of Moab, they settled there. After some time, Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. They both married Moabite women. One was named Orpah, and the other was named Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, Mahlon and Chilion also died, and the woman was left alone, without her two sons and without her husband.

*

When Naomi heard in Moab that the LORD had taken pity on his people and given them bread again, she and her two daughters-in-law prepared to leave Moab and return home. Together with them, she left the place where she had lived and returned to Judah.

But once they were on their way, Naomi said, "Go back to your mother's house, both of you. May the LORD be as good to you as you have been to me and my dead sons. May He grant you both security in the house of a husband," and she kissed them.

Then they burst into tears and said, "But we want to return with you to your people!"

"Go back, my daughters," Naomi said. "Why would you go with me? Could I still have sons who could become your husbands? Go back, for I am too old for a husband. Even if I still had hope, even if I slept with a man tonight and gave birth to sons, would you wait until they grew up and prevent you from marrying another man? No, my daughters, my fate is too bitter for you; the LORD has turned against me."

Once again they began to weep. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth did not leave her side.

"Look, your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her god," Naomi said. "Go after her!"

But Ruth replied, "Do not urge me to leave you or to turn back from following you. Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts me from you."

Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her and did not insist any further. So they went on together until they reached Bethlehem.

*

Their arrival in Bethlehem caused quite a stir. All over the city, the women cried out,

"Isn't that Naomi?"

But she said to them, "Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has made my life very bitter. When I left here, I had everything, but the LORD has brought me back empty-handed. Why should I still be called Naomi, now that the LORD has turned against me and the Almighty has brought me harm?"

So Naomi returned from Moab, together with her daughter-in-law Ruth, the Moabite. They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest. Now Naomi was related on her husband Elimelech's side to a courageous and influential man named Boaz.

Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “I want to go to the fields to glean behind someone who is kind to me.”

Naomi replied, "Go ahead, my daughter."

So she went to the fields to glean behind the reapers. By chance, she came to the field belonging to Boaz, the relative of Elimelech.

After a while, Boaz himself arrived from Bethlehem. "The LORD be with you," he greeted the reapers.

"The LORD bless you," they replied.

Boaz asked the foreman of his reapers, "Whose young woman is that?"

The man replied, "She is the Moabite woman who came back with Naomi. When she arrived here, she said, 'I would like to follow the reapers to glean among the sheaves,' and she has been here all day, from early morning—she has only sat down for a moment."

Then Boaz said to Ruth, "Listen carefully, my daughter. Don't go to another field to glean; don't leave here, but stay close to the women who work for me. Follow them closely and keep your eyes on the field where they are reaping. I will tell my men not to bother you. When you are thirsty, go to the jars and drink the water they draw there."

She knelt, bowed low, and said, "Why are you so kind to me? You treat me well, even though I am only a stranger."

Boaz replied, "I have been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband: how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people you did not know. May the LORD reward you for this—the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge."

"You are kind to me, sir," she said. "You comfort me and encourage me, even though I am not one of your servants."

When it was time to eat, Boaz said to her, “Come here and take a piece of bread and dip it in the wine.”

She sat down beside the reapers, and he gave her roasted grain. She ate until she was full and even had some left over.

When she got up to go back to work, Boaz gave his men the following instructions: "Let her glean among the sheaves, and don't say anything to her. On the contrary, you must pull some stalks out of the bundles and leave them for her to pick up. So don't reproach her."

She worked in the field until evening and threshed the grain she had gathered. It was about an ephah of barley. She picked it up and went back to the city.

When Naomi saw how much she had gathered, and when Ruth also gave her what she had left over from her lunch, she exclaimed, "Where did you glean today, where did you work? Blessed be the man who treated you so well!"

Ruth told her mother-in-law that the man she had worked for that day was named Boaz.

Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, "May the LORD bless him, for he has shown kindness to the living and the dead." And she continued, "He is a close relative of ours and can therefore exercise his rights as a redeemer."

Ruth the Moabite said, “He also told me to stay with his reapers until his entire harvest is finished.”

"It is good that you are going up with the women on his land, my daughter," Naomi said to Ruth, "for then no one will be able to harass you in another field."

So she continued to glean among the women who worked for Boaz until the end of the barley and wheat harvests. All that time she lived with her mother-in-law.

Psalm 16

A silent prayer from David.

Preserve me, God, for in you I take refuge.

I say to the LORD, "You are my Lord,

my happiness, no one surpasses You."

But to the gods of this land,

the powers I once loved, I say:

"Those who follow you will suffer greatly."

I no longer pour out blood for them,

their names are no longer on my lips.

LORD, my only possession, my cup of life,

You hold my fate in your hands.

A lovely land has been measured out for me,

I am delighted with what has been allotted to me.

I praise the LORD who gives me insight,

even at night my conscience speaks.

I keep the LORD always before my eyes,

with Him at my side, I do not falter.

Therefore my heart rejoices and my soul exults,

my body feels safe and secure.

You will not abandon me to the realm of the dead

nor will you let your faithful servant see the grave.

You show me the path of life:

abundant joy in your presence,

a lovely place at your side forever.

One day Naomi, her mother-in-law, said, "My daughter, shall I not seek a home for you where you will be well cared for? Boaz, with whom you have worked, is, as you know, a member of our family. Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. Bathe yourself, rub yourself with oil, dress yourself, and go to the threshing floor. Make sure he doesn't see you until he has finished eating and drinking. When he goes to sleep, pay close attention to where he lies down, and then go to him, pull back the blanket at his feet, and lie down there. He will tell you what to do."

Ruth replied, "I will do as you say." She went to the threshing floor and did exactly as her mother-in-law had instructed her.

Boaz ate and drank, felt satisfied, and lay down to sleep against a pile of barley.

Then Ruth quietly came to him, pulled back the blanket at his feet, and lay down.

In the middle of the night, he woke up with a start, turned around, and saw a woman lying at his feet. "Who are you?" he asked.

"It is I, sir, Ruth," she said. "Let me take refuge with you, for you can act as our redeemer."

"May the LORD bless you, my daughter," he said. "This shows even more faithfulness than you have shown before. You have not looked at younger men, rich or poor. Therefore, my daughter, do not be afraid. I will do what you ask of me, for everyone in the city knows that you are a courageous woman. But even though it is true that I can help you, there is someone else who can help you, and he is closer to you than I am. Stay here tonight. If tomorrow morning it turns out that this man is willing to act as your redeemer, then all is well, but if he is not willing, then I will do it, as surely as the LORD lives. Now lie down here until morning."

And she lay at his feet until morning.

Before it was light enough to recognize anyone, she got up, because he did not want anyone to know that she had been on the threshing floor.

He said, "Take your cloak and hold it open."

She did so, and he poured six measures of barley into it and helped her lift it up.

Then he went into the city. She went to her mother-in-law, who asked her how she had fared.

Ruth told her what Boaz had done for her. "He gave me these six measures of barley," she said, "because, he said, 'You should not go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.'"

Naomi replied, "Stay here and wait until you know how it turns out, my daughter, for I am sure that this man will not rest until he has settled the matter."

*

Boaz had meanwhile gone to the gate and sat down there. Then the man he had spoken of passed by—his name is not important—and he said, "Come here and sit with me." The man did as he was asked. Boaz also asked ten elders of the city to sit down, and they too sat down.

Then he said to the man who could also act as a redeemer, "The piece of land belonging to our brother Elimelech is being sold by Naomi, who has returned from Moab. I therefore feel I must inform you of the following: You can buy the piece of land in the presence of those here and in the presence of the elders of the people. If you intend to exercise your rights as redeemer, you may do so; if not, you must let me know. You are the first to be considered, and I come after you."

"I will exercise my rights," said the man.

Then Boaz said, "When you buy the piece of land from Naomi, you also buy it from Ruth, the widow from Moab, and the name of her deceased husband will live on in his land."

Then the man said, "Then I cannot assert my rights, because that would be at the expense of my own family property. You take it from me, because I cannot afford it. (_-) Buy the land!" And he took off his sandal. (In ancient Israel, when such a purchase or exchange had to be made legally binding, it was customary to take off one's sandal and give it to the other person. This was how such a transaction was ratified in Israel.)

Then Boaz said to the elders and all the others who were there, "You are witnesses today that I am buying from Naomi all the property of Elimelech, Kiljon, and Mahlon. I am also taking Ruth, the Moabite, the wife of Mahlon, as my wife, to perpetuate the name of her deceased husband on his land. His name will not be lost among his relatives and the inhabitants of the city. You are witnesses to this today."

"Yes," said the elders and all who were present at the gate, "we are witnesses. May the LORD grant that the woman who is coming into your home be like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel, so that you too may be great in Ephrathah and your name in Bethlehem. May your house be like the house of Perez, the son of Tamar and Judah, through the children the LORD will give you by this young woman."

Then Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife, and he slept with her. The LORD enabled her to conceive, and she bore a son.

The women said to Naomi, "Praise be to the LORD, who has given you someone today to care for you. May his name be remembered in Israel! He will restore your joy and support you in your old age, for your daughter-in-law, who loves you and is worth more than seven sons, has given birth to him."

Naomi took the boy in her lap and cared for him from that moment on.

The women neighbors gave him his name. “Naomi has had a son,” they said, and they named him Obed.

He is the father of Jesse, who is the father of David.

* 

From Psalm 22

For the choir director. To the tune of "The Doe of the Dawn." A psalm of David.

You are the Holy One, enthroned upon the praises of Israel.

Our ancestors trusted in you;

they trusted, and You delivered them;

they called upon You and were saved,

they trusted in You and were not put to shame.

You brought me forth from my mother's womb,

entrusted me to her breasts,

at my birth your hands caught me,

from the womb, You are my God.

A new generation will serve Him

and tell the children about the Lord;

to the people yet to be born

they will tell of His righteousness,

for what He has done.

These are the descendants of Perez:

Perez fathered Hezron,

Chesron begot Ram,

Ram begot Amminadab,

Amminadab begot Nahshon,

Nahshon begot Salmon,

Salmon begot Boaz,

Boaz begot Obed,

Obed begot Jesse,

And Jesse begot David.

*

Psalm 19

For the choir director. A psalm of David.

The heavens declare the glory of God,

the expanse proclaims the work of his hands,

day after day it pours forth speech,

the night tells it to the next night.

Yet there is no speech, no words are heard,

it is speech without sound.

Their voice goes out over all the earth,

their language to the ends of the world.

There He has pitched a tent for the sun:

a young bridegroom leaving the bridal bed,

a hero who rushes forward on his way, cheering.

At one end of the heavens he rises,

at the other end he completes his course,

nothing remains hidden from his heat.

The law of the LORD is perfect:

life-giving for mankind.

The LORD's instruction is trustworthy:

wisdom for the simple.

The commands of the LORD are clear:

joy for the heart.

The command of the LORD is clear:

light for the eyes.

The fear of the LORD is pure,

endures forever.

The precepts of the LORD are true,

just, and altogether to be trusted.

They are more desirable than gold,

than fine gold in abundance,

and sweeter than honey,

than honey from the comb.

Your servant is blessed by them,

those who follow them are richly rewarded.

But who can know all his faults?

Speak me free from hidden sins.

Protect me, your servant, and let pride

not rule over me, then I will be perfect

and free from great sin.

May the words of my mouth please You,

the meditations of my heart delight You,

O LORD, my rock, my redeemer.