And it happened in the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a man from Bethlehem of Judah went to reside in the countryside of Moab—he and his wife and his two sons. And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephraimites from Bethlehem in Judah. And they went to the countryside of Moab and remained there.

But Elimelech the husband of Naomi died and she was left behind with her two sons. And they took for themselves Moabite wives. The name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other was Ruth. And they lived there about ten years. But both Mahlon and Kilion died, and the woman was left without her two sons and without her husband.

And she got up, she and her daughters-in-law, and returned from the countryside of Moab, because she had heard in the countryside of Moab that Yahweh had come to the aid of his people to give food to them. So she set out from the place where she was and her two daughters-in-law with her, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah.

But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, each of you return to her mother’s house. May Yahweh show kindness to you just as you did with the dead and with me. May Yahweh grant that you find a resting place, each in the house of her husband.” And she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and cried.

And they said to her, “No, we want to return with you to your people.” And Naomi said, “Return, my daughters. Why do you still want to go with me? Are there sons in my womb that may be husbands for you? Turn back, my daughters! Go, for I am too old to have a husband. If I should think there is hope for me, even if I should have a husband this night, and even if I should bear sons, would you therefore wait until they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, for it is far more bitter to me than to you. For the hand of Yahweh has gone out against me.” And they lifted up their voices and cried again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her. And she said, “Look, your sister-in-law has returned to her people and to her gods. Return after your sister-in-law too.”

But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return 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 will be my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. So may Yahweh do to me, and even more, unless death separates you and me!” When Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more.

So the two of them went until they came to Bethlehem. And when they came to Bethlehem, all of the town was stirred because of them. And they said, “Is this Naomi?” And she said to them, “You should not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for Shaddai has caused me to be very bitter. I went away full, but Yahweh brought me back empty-handed! Why call me Naomi when Yahweh has testified against me and Shaddai has brought calamity upon me?” So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabite her daughter-in-law with her, returning from the countryside of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the harvest of barley.

Now Naomi had a relative of her husband, a prominent rich man from the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Please let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after someone in whose eyes I may find favor.” And she said to her, “Go, my daughter.” So she went and came and gleaned in the field behind the reapers. And she happened by chance upon the tract of field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelech. And look, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said to the reapers, “May Yahweh be with you.” And they said to him, “May Yahweh bless you.” And Boaz said to his servant in charge of the reapers, “To whom does this young woman belong?” And the servant in charge of the reapers said, “She is a Moabite girl returning with Naomi from the countryside of Moab. And she said, ‘Please let me glean and let me gather among the sheaves behind the reapers.’ So she came and remained from the morning up to now. She is sitting for a little while in the house.”

And Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen carefully, my daughter, go no longer to glean in another field. Moreover, do not leave from this one, but stay close with my young women. Keep your eyes on the field that they reap and go after them. Have I not ordered the servants not to bother you? And if you get thirsty, you shall go to the containers and drink from where the servants have drawn.” And she fell on her face and bowed down to the ground and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your eyes by recognizing me—for I am a foreigner?” And Boaz answered and said to her, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband was fully told to me. How you left your father and mother and the land of your birth, and you went to a people that you did not know before. May Yahweh reward your work and may a full reward be given to you from Yahweh, the God of Israel, under whose wings you came to take refuge.” And she said, “May I find favor in your eyes, my lord, for you have comforted me and have spoken kindly to your servant, and I am not one of your servants.”

And Boaz said to her at mealtime, “Come here and eat from the bread and dip your morsel in the wine vinegar.” So she sat beside the gleaners, and he offered to her roasted grain. And she ate and was satisfied, and she had some left over. And she got up to glean, and Boaz instructed his servants saying, “Let her also glean between the sheaves and do not reproach her. And also pull out for her from your bundles and leave it so that she may glean—and do not rebuke her.”

So she gleaned in the field until the evening and she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley. And she picked it up and went to the town. Her mother-in-law saw how much she had gleaned. And she took it out and gave to her what she had left over after being satisfied. And her mother-in-law said to her, “Where did you glean today and where did you work? May he who took notice of you be blessed.” And she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said, “The name of the man who I worked with today is Boaz.” And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by Yahweh, whose loyal love has not forsaken the living or the dead.” And Naomi said to her, “The man is a close relative for us, he is one of our redeemers.” And Ruth the Moabite said, “Also, he said to me, ‘You shall stay close with the servants which are mine until they have finished all of the harvest which is mine.'” And Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his maidservants so that you will not be bothered in another field.” So she stayed close with the maidservants of Boaz to glean until the end of the barley harvest and wheat harvest. And she lived with her mother-in-law.

Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. And a certain man was being carried who was lame from birth. He was placed every day at the gate of the temple called “Beautiful,” so that he could ask for charitable gifts from those who were going into the temple courts. When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple courts, he began asking to receive alms. And Peter looked intently at him, together with John, and said, “Look at us!” So he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not possess, but what I have, this I give to you—in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, walk!” And taking hold of him by the right hand, he raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. And leaping up, he stood and began walking around and entered into the temple courts with them, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God, And they recognized him, that this one was the one who used to sit asking for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, and they were filled with awe and astonishment at what had happened to him.

And while he was holding fast to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the portico called Solomon’s, utterly astonished. And when he saw it, Peter replied to the people, “Men and Israelites, why are you astonished at this? Or why are you staring at us, as if by our own power or godliness we have made him walk? The God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and denied in the presence of Pilate, after he had decided to release him. But you denied the Holy and Righteous One and demanded that a man—a murderer—be granted to you. And you killed the originator of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses! And on the basis of faith in his name, his name has made this man strong, whom you see and know, and the faith that is through him has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all. And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also. But the things which God foretold through the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he has fulfilled in this way. Therefore repent and turn back, so that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and he may send the Christ appointed for you—Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the times of the restoration of all things, about which God spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from earliest times. Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You will listen to him in everything that he says to you. And it will be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet will be destroyed utterly from the people.’ And indeed, all the prophets from Samuel and all those who followed him have spoken about and proclaimed these days. You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God ordained with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring all the nations of the earth will be blessed.’ God, after he had raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning each of you back from your wickedness!”

Until next time, keep meditating on the word of God.

Scripture quotations are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.