Bible Readings for May 6, 2015

Today our passages are Ruth 2:1–4:22; John 4:43-54; Psalm 105:16-36; and Proverbs 14:26-27. The readings are the Contemporary English Version. 

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Ruth 2-4:22 (Contemporary English Version)

Ruth 2

Ruth Meets Boaz

 ^1-3One day, Ruth said to Naomi, "Let me see if I can find someone who will let me pick up the grain left in the fields by the harvest workers." ^[a] Naomi answered, "Go ahead, my daughter." So right away, Ruth went out to pick up grain in a field owned by Boaz. He was a relative of Naomi's husband Elimelech, as well as a rich and important man.     ⁴When Boaz left Bethlehem and went out to his field, he said to the harvest workers, "The LORD bless you!"
   They replied, "And may the LORD bless you!"
    ⁵Then Boaz asked the man in charge of the harvest workers, "Who is that young woman?"
    ⁶The man answered, "She is the one who came back from Moab with Naomi. ⁷She asked if she could pick up grain left by the harvest workers, and she has been working all morning without a moment's rest." ^{[b] 8}Boaz went over to Ruth and said, "I think it would be best for you not to pick up grain in anyone else's field. Stay here with the women ⁹and follow along behind them, as they gather up what the men have cut. I have warned the men not to bother you, and whenever you are thirsty, you can drink from the water jars they have filled."
    ¹⁰Ruth bowed down to the ground and said, "You know I come from another country. Why are you so good to me?"
    ¹¹Boaz answered, "I've heard how you've helped your mother-in-law ever since your husband died. You even left your own father and mother to come and live in a foreign land among people you don't know. ¹²I pray that the LORD God of Israel will reward you for what you have done. And now that you have come to him for protection, I pray that he will bless you."
    ¹³Ruth replied, "Sir, it's good of you to speak kindly to me and make me feel so welcome. I'm not even one of your servants."
    ¹⁴At mealtime Boaz said to Ruth, "Come, eat with us. Have some bread and dip it in the sauce." Right away she sat down with the workers, and Boaz handed her some roasted grain. Ruth ate all she wanted and had some left over.
    ¹⁵When Ruth got up to start picking up grain, Boaz told his men, "Don't stop her, even if she picks up grain from where it is stacked. ¹⁶Be sure to pull out some stalks of grain from the bundles and leave them on the ground for her. And don't speak harshly to her!"
    ¹⁷Ruth worked in the field until evening. Then after she had pounded the grain off the stalks, she had a large basket full of grain. ¹⁸She took the grain to town and showed Naomi how much she had picked up. Ruth also gave her the food left over from her lunch.
    ¹⁹Naomi said, "Where did you work today? Whose field was it? God bless the man who treated you so well!" Then Ruth told her that she had worked in the field of a man named Boaz.
    ²⁰"The LORD bless Boaz!" Naomi replied. "He ^[c] has shown that he is still loyal to the living and to the dead. Boaz is a close relative, one of those who is supposed to look after us." ²¹Ruth told her, "Boaz even said I could stay in the field with his workers until they had finished gathering all his grain."
    ²²Naomi replied, "My daughter, it's good that you can pick up grain alongside the women who work in his field. Who knows what might happen to you in someone else's field!" ²³And so, Ruth stayed close to the women, while picking up grain in his field.
   Ruth worked in the fields until the barley and wheat were harvested. And all this time she lived with Naomi.
   

Ruth 3

Naomi Makes Plans for Ruth

 ¹One day, Naomi said to Ruth:    It's time I found you a husband, who will give you a home and take care of you.
    ²You have been picking up grain alongside the women who work for Boaz, and you know he is a relative of ours. Tonight he will be threshing the grain. ³Now take a bath and put on some perfume, then dress in your best clothes. Go where he is working, but don't let him see you until he has finished eating and drinking. ⁴Watch where he goes to spend the night, then when he is asleep, lift the cover and lie down at his feet. ^[d] He will tell you what to do. ⁵Ruth answered, "I'll do whatever you say." ⁶She went out to the place where Boaz was working and did what Naomi had told her.
    ⁷After Boaz finished eating and drinking and was feeling happy, he went over and fell asleep near the pile of grain. Ruth slipped over quietly. She lifted the cover and lay down near his feet.
    ⁸In the middle of the night, Boaz suddenly woke up and was shocked to see a woman lying at his feet. ⁹"Who are you?" he asked.
   "Sir, I am Ruth," she answered, "and you are the relative who is supposed to take care of me. So spread the edge of your cover over me." ^{[e] 10}Boaz replied:
   The LORD bless you! This shows how truly loyal you are to your family. You could have looked for a younger man, either rich or poor, but you didn't. ¹¹Don't worry, I'll do what you have asked. You are respected by everyone in town.
    ¹²It's true that I am one of the relatives who is supposed to take care of you, but there is someone who is an even closer relative. ¹³Stay here until morning, then I will find out if he is willing to look after you. If he isn't, I promise by the living God to do it myself. Now go back to sleep until morning.
    ¹⁴Ruth lay down again, but she got up before daylight, because Boaz did not want anyone to know she had been there. ¹⁵Then he told her to spread out her cape. And he filled it with a lot of grain and placed it on her shoulder.
   When Ruth got back to town, ¹⁶Naomi asked her ^[f] what had happened, and Ruth told her everything. ¹⁷She also said, "Boaz gave me this grain, because he didn't want me to come back without something for you." ¹⁸Naomi replied, "Just be patient and don't worry about what will happen. He won't rest until everything is settled today!"
   

Ruth 4

Ruth and Boaz Get Married

 ¹In the meanwhile, Boaz had gone to the meeting place at the town gate and was sitting there when the other close relative came by. So Boaz invited him to come over and sit down, and he did. ²Then Boaz got ten of the town leaders and also asked them to sit down. After they had sat down, ³he said to the man:    Naomi has come back from Moab and is selling the land that belonged to her husband Elimelech. ⁴I am telling you about this, since you are his closest relative and have the right to buy the property. If you want it, you can buy it now. These ten men and the others standing here can be witnesses. But if you don't want the property, let me know, because I am next in line.
   The man replied, "I will buy it!"
    ⁵"If you do buy it from Naomi," Boaz told him, "you must also marry Ruth. Then if you have a son by her, the property will stay in the family of Ruth's first husband."
    ⁶The man answered, "If that's the case, I don't want to buy it! That would make problems with the property I already own. ^[g] You may buy it yourself, because I cannot." ⁷To make a sale legal in those days, one person would take off a sandal and give it to the other. ⁸So after the man had agreed to let Boaz buy the property, he took off one of his sandals and handed it to Boaz.
    ⁹Boaz told the town leaders and everyone else:
   All of you are witnesses that today I have bought from Naomi the property that belonged to Elimelech and his two sons, Chilion and Mahlon. ¹⁰You are also witnesses that I have agreed to marry Mahlon's widow Ruth, the Moabite woman. This will keep the property in his family's name, and he will be remembered in this town.
    ¹¹The town leaders and the others standing there said:
   We are witnesses to this. And we pray that the LORD will give your wife many children, just as he did Leah and Rachel, the wives of Jacob. May you be a rich man in the tribe of Ephrath and an important man in Bethlehem. ¹²May the children you have by this young woman make your family as famous as the family of Perez, ^[h] the son of Tamar and Judah. ¹³Boaz married Ruth, and the LORD blessed her with a son. ¹⁴After his birth, the women said to Naomi:
   Praise the LORD! Today he has given you a grandson to take care of you. We pray that the boy will grow up to be famous everywhere in Israel. ¹⁵He will ^[i] make you happy and take care of you in your old age, because he is the son of your daughter-in-law. And she loves you more than seven sons of your own would love you. ¹⁶Naomi loved the boy and took good care of him. ¹⁷The neighborhood women named him Obed, but they called him "Naomi's Boy."
   When Obed grew up he had a son named Jesse, who later became the father of King David. ^18-22Here is a list of the ancestors of David: Jesse, Obed, Boaz, Salmon, Nahshon, Amminadab, Ram, Hezron, and Perez.
   

Footnotes:

1. Ruth 2:1 grain left. . . workers: It was the custom at harvest time to leave some grain in the field for the poor to pick up (see Leviticus 19.10; 23.22).
2. Ruth 2:7 she has. . . rest: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
3. Ruth 2:20 He: Or "The LORD."
4. Ruth 3:4 lift the cover. . . feet: To ask for protection and possibly for marriage.
5. Ruth 3:9 So. . . me: To show that he would protect and take care of her.
6. Ruth 3:16 When. . . her: Some Hebrew manuscripts and two ancient translations; most Hebrew manuscripts "Boaz went back to town. !sr16Naomi asked Ruth."
7. Ruth 4:6 property. . . own: This property would then have to be shared with Ruth and her children as well as with his own family.
8. Ruth 4:12 Perez: One of the sons of Judah; he was an ancestor of Boaz and of many others who lived in Bethlehem.
9. Ruth 4:15 We pray that. . . famous. . . !sr15 He will: Or "We pray that the LORD will be praised everywhere in Israel. !sr15Your grandson will."

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John 4:43-54 (Contemporary English Version)

Jesus Heals an Official's Son

(Matthew 8.5-13; Luke 7.1-10)

 ^43-44Jesus had said, "Prophets are honored everywhere, except in their own country." Then two days later he left ⁴⁵and went to Galilee. The people there welcomed him, because they had gone to the festival in Jerusalem and had seen everything he had done.     ⁴⁶While Jesus was in Galilee, he returned to the village of Cana, where he had turned the water into wine. There was an official in Capernaum whose son was sick. ⁴⁷And when the man heard that Jesus had come from Judea, he went and begged him to keep his son from dying.
    ⁴⁸Jesus told the official, "You won't have faith unless you see miracles and wonders!"
    ⁴⁹The man replied, "Lord, please come before my son dies!"
    ⁵⁰Jesus then said, "Your son will live. Go on home to him." The man believed Jesus and started back home.
    ⁵¹Some of the official's servants met him along the road and told him, "Your son is better!" ⁵²He asked them when the boy got better, and they answered, "The fever left him yesterday at one o'clock."
    ⁵³The boy's father realized that at one o'clock the day before, Jesus had told him, "Your son will live!" So the man and everyone in his family put their faith in Jesus.
    ⁵⁴This was the second miracle ^[a] that Jesus worked after he left Judea and went to Galilee.

Footnotes:

1. John 4:54 miracle: See the note at 2.11.

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Psalm 105:16-36 (Contemporary English Version)

¹⁶God kept crops from growing
   until food was scarce
   everywhere in the land.
    ¹⁷But he had already sent Joseph,
   sold as a slave into Egypt,
    ¹⁸with chains of iron
   around his legs and neck.
    ¹⁹Joseph remained a slave
   until his own words
   had come true,
   and the LORD had finished
   testing him.
    ²⁰Then the king of Egypt
   set Joseph free
    ²¹and put him in charge
   of everything he owned.
    ²²Joseph was in command
   of the officials,
   and he taught the leaders
   how to use wisdom.
    ²³Jacob and his family
   came
   and settled in Egypt
   as foreigners.
    ²⁴They were the LORD's people,
   so he let them grow stronger
   than their enemies.
    ²⁵They served the LORD,
   and he made the Egyptians plan
   hateful things against them.
    ²⁶God sent his servant Moses.
   He also chose and sent Aaron
    ²⁷to his people in Egypt,
   and they worked miracles
   and wonders there.
    ²⁸Moses and Aaron obeyed God,
   and he sent darkness
   to cover Egypt.
    ²⁹God turned their rivers
   into streams of blood,
   and the fish all died.
    ³⁰Frogs were everywhere,
   even in the royal palace.
    ³¹When God gave the command,
   flies and gnats
   swarmed all around.
    ³²In place of rain,
   God sent hailstones
   and flashes of lightning.
    ³³He destroyed their grapevines
   and their fig trees,
   and he made splinters
   of all the other trees.
    ³⁴God gave the command,
   and more grasshoppers came
   than could be counted.
    ³⁵They ate every green plant
   and all the crops that grew
   in the land of Egypt.
    ³⁶Then God took the life
   of every first-born son.

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Proverbs 14:26-27 (Contemporary English Version)

²⁶If you respect the LORD,
   you and your children
   have
   a strong fortress
    ²⁷and a life-giving fountain
   that keeps you safe
   from deadly traps.

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Verse of the Day

“If you have sinned, you should tell each other what you have done. Then you can pray for one another and be healed. The prayer of an innocent person is powerful, and it can help a lot.” - James 5:16

Today's passage is from the Contemporary English Version.

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Thought for the Day

 

English poet, songwriter, folk musician, Sydney Carter wrote, “I see Christ as the incarnation of the piper who is calling us. He dances that shape and pattern which is at the heart of our reality. By Christ I mean not only Jesus; in other times and places, other planets, there may be other Lords of the Dance. But Jesus is the one I know of first and best. I sing of the dancing pattern in the life and words of Jesus.”