Select: First Reading Second Reading Bible Background
First Reading: Ruth Chapter 2 and 3 and 4
Ruth 2
2:1 Now Naomi had a relative on her husband's side, from the clan of Elimelech,
a man of standing, whose name was Boaz.
2 And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, "Let me go to the fields and pick
up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor."
Naomi said to her, "Go ahead, my daughter." 3 So she went out and
began to glean in the fields behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she found
herself working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelech.
4 Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, "The
LORD be with you!"
"The LORD bless you!" they called back.
5 Boaz asked the foreman of his harvesters, "Whose young woman is that?"
6 The foreman replied, "She is the Moabitess who came back from Moab with
Naomi. 7 She said, 'Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind
the harvesters.' She went into the field and has worked steadily from morning
till now, except for a short rest in the shelter."
8 So Boaz said to Ruth, "My daughter, listen to me. Don't go and glean
in another field and don't go away from here. Stay here with my servant girls.
9 Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the girls.
I have told the men not to touch you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get
a drink from the water jars the men have filled."
10 At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She exclaimed, "Why
have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me-a foreigner?"
11 Boaz replied, "I've 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 homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. 12
May the LORD repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by
the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge."
13 "May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord," she said.
"You have given me comfort and have spoken kindly to your servant-though
I do not have the standing of one of your servant girls."
14 At mealtime Boaz said to her, "Come over here. Have some bread and dip
it in the wine vinegar."
When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She
ate all she wanted and had some left over. 15 As she got up to glean, Boaz gave
orders to his men, "Even if she gathers among the sheaves, don't embarrass
her. 16 Rather, pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them
for her to pick up, and don't rebuke her."
17 So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley
she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah. 18 She carried it back
to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought
out and gave her what she had left over after she had eaten enough.
19 Her mother-in-law asked her, "Where did you glean today? Where did you
work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!"
Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working.
"The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz," she said.
20 "The LORD bless him!" Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. "He
has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead." She added,
"That man is our close relative; he is one of our kinsman-redeemers."
21 Then Ruth the Moabitess said, "He even said to me, 'Stay with my workers
until they finish harvesting all my grain.'"
22 Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, "It will be good for you, my
daughter, to go with his girls, because in someone else's field you might be
harmed."
23 So Ruth stayed close to the servant girls of Boaz to glean until the barley
and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.
Ruth 3
3:1 One day Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, "My daughter, should
I not try to find a home for you, where you will be well provided for? 2 Is
not Boaz, with whose servant girls you have been, a kinsman of ours? Tonight
he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. 3 Wash and perfume yourself,
and put on your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing floor, but don't
let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. 4 When
he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet
and lie down. He will tell you what to do."
5 "I will do whatever you say," Ruth answered. 6 So she went down
to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law told her to do.
7 When Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he went
over to lie down at the far end of the grain pile. Ruth approached quietly,
uncovered his feet and lay down. 8 In the middle of the night something startled
the man, and he turned and discovered a woman lying at his feet.
9 "Who are you?" he asked.
"I am your servant Ruth," she said. "Spread the corner of your
garment over me, since you are a kinsman-redeemer."
10 "The LORD bless you, my daughter," he replied. "This kindness
is greater than that which you showed earlier: You have not run after the younger
men, whether rich or poor. 11 And now, my daughter, don't be afraid. I will
do for you all you ask. All my fellow townsmen know that you are a woman of
noble character. 12 Although it is true that I am near of kin, there is a kinsman-redeemer
nearer than I. 13 Stay here for the night, and in the morning if he wants to
redeem, good; let him redeem. But if he is not willing, as surely as the LORD
lives I will do it. Lie here until morning."
14 So she lay at his feet until morning, but got up before anyone could be recognized;
and he said, "Don't let it be known that a woman came to the threshing
floor."
15 He also said, "Bring me the shawl you are wearing and hold it out."
When she did so, he poured into it six measures of barley and put it on her.
Then he went back to town.
16 When Ruth came to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked, "How did it go, my
daughter?"
Then she told her everything Boaz had done for her 17 and added, "He gave
me these six measures of barley, saying, 'Don't go back to your mother-in-law
empty-handed.'"
18 Then Naomi said, "Wait, my daughter, until you find out what happens.
For the man will not rest until the matter is settled today."
Ruth 4
4:1 Meanwhile Boaz went up to the town gate and sat there. When the kinsman-redeemer
he had mentioned came along, Boaz said, "Come over here, my friend, and
sit down." So he went over and sat down.
2 Boaz took ten of the elders of the town and said, "Sit here," and
they did so. 3 Then he said to the kinsman-redeemer, "Naomi, who has come
back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our brother Elimelech.
4 I thought I should bring the matter to your attention and suggest that you
buy it in the presence of these seated here and in the presence of the elders
of my people. If you will redeem it, do so. But if you will not, tell me, so
I will know. For no one has the right to do it except you, and I am next in
line."
"I will redeem it," he said.
5 Then Boaz said, "On the day you buy the land from Naomi and from Ruth
the Moabitess, you acquire the dead man's widow, in order to maintain the name
of the dead with his property."
6 At this, the kinsman-redeemer said, "Then I cannot redeem it because
I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it."
7(Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption and transfer of property
to become final, one party took off his sandal and gave it to the other. This
was the method of legalizing transactions in Israel.)
8 So the kinsman-redeemer said to Boaz, "Buy it yourself." And he
removed his sandal.
9 Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, "Today you are
witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelech, Kilion
and Mahlon. 10 I have also acquired Ruth the Moabitess, Mahlon's widow, as my
wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his
name will not disappear from among his family or from the town records. Today
you are witnesses!"
11 Then the elders and all those at the gate said, "We are witnesses. May
the LORD make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who
together built up the house of Israel. May you have standing in Ephrathah and
be famous in Bethlehem. 12 Through the offspring the LORD gives you by this
young woman, may your family be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah."
13 So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. Then he went to her, and the LORD
enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. 14 The women said to Naomi:
"Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer.
May he become famous throughout Israel! 15 He will renew your life and sustain
you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better
to you than seven sons, has given him birth."
16 Then Naomi took the child, laid him in her lap 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, the father of David.
18 This, then, is the family line of Perez:
Perez was the father of Hezron,
19 Hezron the father of Ram,
Ram the father of Amminadab,
20 Amminadab the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon,
21 Salmon the father of Boaz,
Boaz the father of Obed,
22 Obed the father of Jesse,
and Jesse the father of David.
Second Reading: Luke Chapter 1
Luke 1
1:1 Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been
fulfilled among us, 2 just as they were handed down to us by those who from
the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. 3 Therefore, since I myself
have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also
to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 so that
you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.
5 In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who
belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant
of Aaron. 6 Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the
Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly. 7 But they had no children,
because Elizabeth was barren; and they were both well along in years.
8 Once when Zechariah's division was on duty and he was serving as priest before
God, 9 he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go
into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 And when the time for the burning
of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.
11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of
the altar of incense. 12 When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped
with fear. 13 But the angel said to him: "Do not be afraid, Zechariah;
your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you
are to give him the name John. 14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many
will rejoice because of his birth, 15 for he will be great in the sight of the
Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled
with the Holy Spirit even from birth. 16 Many of the people of Israel will he
bring back to the Lord their God. 17 And he will go on before the Lord, in the
spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children
and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous-to make ready a people prepared
for the Lord."
18 Zechariah asked the angel, "How can I be sure of this? I am an old man
and my wife is well along in years."
19 The angel answered, "I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and
I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. 20 And now
you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because
you did not believe my words, which will come true at their proper time."
21 Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed
so long in the temple. 22 When he came out, he could not speak to them. They
realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them
but remained unable to speak.
23 When his time of service was completed, he returned home. 24 After this his
wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. 25
"The Lord has done this for me," she said. "In these days he
has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people."
26 In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee,
27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of
David. The virgin's name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, "Greetings,
you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."
29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting
this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you
have found favor with God. 31 You will be with child and give birth to a son,
and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called
the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father
David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will
never end."
34 "How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"
35 The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power
of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called
the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in
her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. 37 For
nothing is impossible with God."
38 "I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me
as you have said." Then the angel left her.
39 At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of
Judea, 40 where she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When
Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth
was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 In a loud voice she exclaimed: "Blessed
are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43 But why am I
so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 As soon as the
sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.
45 Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be
accomplished!"
46 And Mary said:
"My soul glorifies the Lord 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all
generations will call me blessed, 49 for the Mighty One has done great things
for me- holy is his name. 50 His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation
to generation. 51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered
those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. 52 He has brought down rulers
from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. 53 He has filled the hungry
with good things but has sent the rich away empty. 54 He has helped his servant
Israel, remembering to be merciful 55 to Abraham and his descendants forever,
even as he said to our fathers."
56 Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home.
57 When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son.
58 Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy,
and they shared her joy.
59 On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going
to name him after his father Zechariah, 60 but his mother spoke up and said,
"No! He is to be called John."
61 They said to her, "There is no one among your relatives who has that
name."
62 Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name
the child. 63 He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone's astonishment
he wrote, "His name is John." 64 Immediately his mouth was opened
and his tongue was loosed, and he began to speak, praising God. 65 The neighbors
were all filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were
talking about all these things. 66 Everyone who heard this wondered about it,
asking, "What then is this child going to be?" For the Lord's hand
was with him.
67 His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:
68 "Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has
redeemed his people. 69 He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house
of his servant David 70(as he said through his holy prophets of long ago), 71
salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us- 72 to show
mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, 73 the oath he swore
to our father Abraham: 74 to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to
enable us to serve him without fear 75 in holiness and righteousness before
him all our days. 76 And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most
High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, 77 to give
his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins,
78 because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come
to us from heaven 79 to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow
of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace."
80 And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the desert
until he appeared publicly to Israel.
Bible Background
SUPER HEROS OF THE BIBLE
RUTH
Ruth was not an Israelite. She was a Moabitess. She became part of the story of the Bible and an ancestor of the Messiah because she left behind the idols of Moab and embraced the God of Israel. When the family of Elimelech and Naomi left Israel during a period of famine, they went to Moab. While they lived there, Ruth was married to one of their sons. He died leaving her a widow. Instead of staying in Moab when her mother-in-law decided to return to Israel, Ruth went with her:
Ruth 1:16 "But Ruth replied, 'Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God."
Even though Naomi and Ruth returned to Israel impoverished, God provided for them. Boaz became Ruth's husband and she had a son named Obed who was the father of Jesse who was the father of David the king.
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