Ruth 1 - 2, 2 Timothy 3 - 4, Proverbs 5

Naomi’s Husband and Sons Die

1Now it happened in the days ^awhen the judges judged, that there was ^ba famine in the land. And a certain man ^cof Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the fields of Moab ¹with his wife and his two sons. ²The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife, Naomi; and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem in Judah. Now they ^acame to the fields of Moab and remained there. ³Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left with her two sons. ⁴They took for themselves Moabite women as wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. And they lived there about ten years. ⁵Then ¹both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and the woman was left without her two children and her husband.

Ruth Is Determined to Go with Naomi

⁶Then she arose with her daughters-in-law and returned from the fields of Moab, for she had heard in the fields of Moab that ¹Yahweh had ^avisited His people to ^bgive them ²food. ⁷So she went forth 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. ⁸And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each of you to her mother’s house. ^aMay Yahweh ¹show lovingkindness with you as you have ²shown with the dead and with me. ⁹“May Yahweh grant that you may find rest, each in the house of her husband.” Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept. ¹⁰And they said to her, “No, but we will return with you to your people.” ¹¹But Naomi said, “Return, my daughters. Why should you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb, that ^athey may be your husbands? ¹²“Return, my daughters! Go, for I am too old to have a husband. If I said I have hope, if I should even have a husband tonight and also bear sons, ¹³would you therefore wait until they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters; for it is more bitter for me than for you, for ^athe hand of Yahweh has gone forth against me.” ¹⁴And they lifted up their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.

¹⁵Then she said, “Behold, your sister-in-law has returned to her people and her ^agods; return after your sister-in-law.” ¹⁶But Ruth said, “Do not press me to forsake you in turning back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. ¹⁷“Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may ^aYahweh do to me, and more, if anything but death separates you and me.” ¹⁸So ^ashe saw that she was determined to go with her, and she ¹said no more to her.

¹⁹Then they both went until they came to Bethlehem. Now it happened, when they had come to Bethlehem, ^aall the city was stirred because of them, and ¹the women said, “Is this Naomi?” ²⁰She said to them, “Do not call me ¹Naomi; call me ²Mara, for ³^,^athe Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. ²¹“I went out full, but ^aYahweh has caused me to return empty. Why do you call me Naomi? Yahweh has answered against me, and ¹the Almighty has brought calamity against me.”

²²So Naomi returned, and with her Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, who returned from the fields of Moab. Now they came to Bethlehem at ^athe beginning of barley harvest.

Ruth Gleans in Boaz’ Field

2Now Naomi had ¹a kinsman of her husband, a ²mighty man of excellence, of the family of ^aElimelech, whose name was Boaz. ²And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Please let me go to the field and ^aglean among the ears of grain after one whom I may find favor in his eyes.” And she said to her, “Go, my daughter.” ³So she went. And she came and gleaned in the field after the reapers. And ¹it so happened that she happened to come to the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech. ⁴Now behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said to the reapers, “^aMay Yahweh be with you.” And they said to him, “May Yahweh bless you.” ⁵Then Boaz said to his young man who was ¹in charge of the reapers, “Whose young woman is this?” ⁶The young man ¹in charge of the reapers replied, “She is the young Moabite woman who returned with Naomi from the fields of Moab. ⁷“And she said, ‘Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.’ Thus she came and has remained from the morning until now; she has been sitting in the house for a little while.”

⁸Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Have you not heard, my daughter? Do not go to glean in another field; furthermore, do not go on from this one, but ¹stay here with my young women. ⁹“Let your eyes be on the field which they reap, and go after them. Indeed, I have commanded the young men not to touch you. And if you are thirsty, go to the ¹water jars and drink from what the young men draw.” ¹⁰Then she ^afell on her face, bowing to the ground and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your sight that you should take notice of me, though I am a foreigner?” ¹¹Boaz replied to her, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband has been fully told to me, and how you forsook your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and came to a people that you did not previously know. ¹²“^aMay Yahweh fully repay your work, and may your wages be full from Yahweh, the God of Israel, ^bunder whose wings you have come to seek refuge.” ¹³Then she said, “May I find favor in your eyes, my lord, for you have comforted me and indeed have spoken to the heart of your servant-woman, though I am not like one of your servant-women.”

¹⁴At mealtime Boaz said to her, “¹Come here, that you may eat of the bread and dip your piece of bread in the vinegar.” So she sat beside the reapers; and he ²served her roasted grain, and she ate and was satisfied ^aand had some left. ¹⁵Then she rose to glean, and Boaz commanded his young men, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not dishonor her. ¹⁶“Also you shall purposely pull out for her some grain from the bundles and ¹leave it that she may glean, and do not rebuke her.”

¹⁷So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ¹ephah of barley. ¹⁸She took it up and went into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She also took it out and ^agave ¹Naomi what she had left after ²she was satisfied. ¹⁹Her mother-in-law then said to her, “Where did you glean today and where did you ¹work? May he who ^atook notice of you be blessed.” So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had ²worked and said, “The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz.” ²⁰Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “^aMay he be blessed of Yahweh who has not forsaken his lovingkindness to the living and to the dead.” Then Naomi said to her, “The man is ¹our relative; he is one of our kinsman redeemers.” ²¹Then Ruth the Moabitess said, “¹Furthermore, he said to me, ‘You should ²stay close to my young men until they have finished all my harvest.’” ²²Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, so that others do not oppress you in another field.” ²³So she ¹stayed close by the young women of Boaz in order to glean until ^athe end of the barley harvest and the wheat harvest. And she lived with her mother-in-law.

Footnotes

1:11 Lit he, and
1:51 Lit both of them
1:61 The personal covenant name of God, a form of I AM WHO I AM, cf. Ex 3:14-15
1:62 Lit bread, cf. Bethlehem (house of bread), Ruth 1:19
1:81 Lit do, cf. 1:17; 2:11, 19
1:82 Lit done, cf. 1:17; 2:11, 19
1:181 Lit ceased to speak
1:191 Lit they
1:201 Lit pleasant
1:202 Lit bitter
1:203 Heb Shaddai
1:211 Heb Shaddai
2:11 Or an acquaintance
2:12 Or mighty man of valor, cf. Judg 6:12; 11:1
2:31 Lit her chance chanced upon
2:51 Lit appointed over
2:61 Lit who was appointed over
2:81 Lit cling, cf. 1:14
2:91 Lit vessels
2:141 Lit Draw near
2:142 Lit held out to
2:161 Or forsake, cf. 1:16; 2:11, 20
2:171 An ephah was approx. 21 qt. or 23 l
2:181 Lit her
2:182 Lit her satiety
2:191 Lit do, cf. 1:8, 17; 2:11
2:192 Lit done, cf. 1:8, 17; 2:11
2:201 Lit near to us
2:211 Lit Also that
2:212 Lit cling, cf. 1:14; 2:8
2:231 Lit clung, cf. 1:14; 2:8, 21

Cross references

1:1a Judg 2:16-18
1:1b Gen 12:10; 26:1; 2 Kin 8:1
1:1c Judg 17:8; Mic 5:2
1:2a Judg 3:30
1:6a Ex 4:31; Jer 29:10; Zeph 2:7
1:6b Ps 132:15; Matt 6:11
1:8a 2 Tim 1:16
1:11a Gen 38:11; Deut 25:5
1:13a Judg 2:15; Job 19:21; Ps 32:4
1:15a Josh 24:15; Judg 11:24
1:17a 1 Sam 3:17; 2 Kin 6:31
1:18a Acts 21:14
1:19a Matt 21:10
1:20a Ex 6:3; Job 6:4
1:21a Job 1:21
1:22a Ex 9:31; Lev 23:10; 11
2:1a Ruth 1:2
2:2a Lev 19:9; 10; 23:22; Deut 24:19; Ruth 2:7
2:4a Judg 6:12; Ps 129:8; Luke 1:28; 2 Thess 3:16
2:10a 1 Sam 25:23
2:12a 1 Sam 24:19
2:12b Ruth 1:16; Ps 17:8; 36:7; 57:1; 61:4; 63:7; 91:4
2:14a Ruth 2:18
2:18a Ruth 2:14
2:19a Ps 41:1
2:20a 2 Sam 2:5
2:23a Deut 16:9

Difficult Times Will Come

3But know this, that ^ain the last days difficult times will come. ²For men will be ^alovers of self, ^blovers of money, ^cboastful, ^darrogant, ^eblasphemers, ^fdisobedient to parents, ^gungrateful, ^hunholy, ³^aunloving, irreconcilable, ¹^,^bmalicious gossips, without self-control, without gentleness, ^cwithout love for good, ⁴^atreacherous, ^breckless, ^cconceited, ^dlovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ⁵holding to a form of ¹^,^agodliness, but having ^bdenied its power. ^cKeep away from such men as these. ⁶For among them are those who ¹^,^aenter into households and take captive ²^,^bweak women weighed down with sins, being led on by ^cvarious desires, ⁷always learning and never able to ^acome to the ¹full knowledge of the truth. ⁸Just as ^aJannes and Jambres ^bopposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, ^cmen of depraved mind, disqualified in regard to the faith. ⁹But they will not make further progress, for their ^afolly will be obvious to all, just ^bas theirs was also.

¹⁰But you ^afollowed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, ^blove, ¹perseverance, ¹¹^apersecutions, and ^bsufferings, such as happened to me at ^cAntioch, at ^dIconium, and at ^eLystra. What ^fpersecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me! ¹²Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus ^awill be persecuted.

¹³But evil men and impostors ^awill proceed from bad to worse, ^bdeceiving and being deceived.

¹⁴But you, ^acontinue in the things you learned and became convinced of, knowing from whom you learned them, ¹⁵and that ^afrom childhood you have known ^bthe sacred writings which are able to ^cmake you wise unto ^dsalvation through faith which is in ^eChrist Jesus. ¹⁶^aAll Scripture is ¹God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for ²training in righteousness, ¹⁷so that ^athe man of God may be equipped, having been ^bthoroughly equipped for every good work.

Preach the Word

4^aI solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to ^bjudge the living and the dead, and by His ^cappearing and His kingdom: ²preach ^athe word; be ready in season and out of season; ^breprove, rebuke, exhort, with ¹great ^cpatience and teaching. ³For ^athe time will come when they will not endure ^bsound doctrine, but wanting to have ¹their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, ⁴and ^awill turn away their ears from the truth and ^bwill turn aside to myths.

⁵But you, ^abe sober in all things, ^bendure hardship, do the work of an ^cevangelist, fulfill your ^dministry.

⁶For I am already being ^apoured out as a drink offering, and the time of ^bmy departure has come. ⁷^aI have fought the good fight, I have finished ^bthe course, I have kept ^cthe faith. ⁸In the future there ^ais laid up for me ^bthe crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on ^cthat day, and not only to me, but also to ^dall who have loved His ^eappearing.

Personal Concerns

⁹^aBe diligent to come to me soon, ¹⁰for ^aDemas, having loved ^bthis present age, has deserted me and gone to ^cThessalonica; Crescens has gone to ¹^,^dGalatia, ^eTitus to Dalmatia. ¹¹^aOnly ^bLuke is with me. Pick up ^cMark and bring him with you, ^dfor he is useful to me for service. ¹²But ^aTychicus I sent to ^bEphesus. ¹³When you come bring the cloak which I left at ^aTroas with Carpus, and the scrolls, especially the parchments. ¹⁴^aAlexander the coppersmith showed me much harm; ^bthe Lord will award him according to his deeds. ¹⁵Be on guard against him yourself, for he vigorously opposed our words.

¹⁶At my first defense no one supported me, but all deserted me. ^aMay it not be counted against them. ¹⁷But the Lord stood with me and ^astrengthened me, so that through me ^bthe preaching might be ^cfulfilled, and that all ^dthe Gentiles might hear. And I was ^erescued out of ^fthe lion’s mouth. ¹⁸The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed, and will ^asave me unto His ^bheavenly kingdom; ^cto ¹Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

¹⁹Greet Prisca and ^aAquila, and ^bthe household of Onesiphorus. ²⁰^aErastus remained at ^bCorinth, but ^cTrophimus I left sick at ^dMiletus. ²¹^aBe diligent to come before ^bwinter. Eubulus greets you, also Pudens and Linus and Claudia and all the brothers.

²²^aThe Lord be with your spirit. ^bGrace be with ¹all of you.

Warning Against Adultery

5My son, ^apay attention to my wisdom,^bIncline your ear to my discernment;²That you may ^akeep discretionAnd that your ^blips may guard knowledge.³For the lips of a ^astrange woman ^bdrip honeyAnd ^csmoother than oil is her ¹speech;⁴But her end is ^abitter as wormwood,^bSharp as a two-edged sword.⁵Her feet ^ago down to death,Her steps take hold of Sheol,⁶Lest she watch the ^apath of life;Her tracks are ^bunstable, she ^cdoes not know it.⁷^aSo now, my sons, listen to meAnd ^bdo not turn away from the words of my mouth.⁸^aKeep your way far from herAnd do not go near the ^bdoor of her house,⁹Lest you give your splendor to othersAnd your years to the cruel one;¹⁰Lest strangers be satisfied by your strengthAnd by your painful labor, those in the house of a foreigner;¹¹And you groan at your ¹end,When your flesh and your body are consumed;¹²And you say, “How I have ^ahated discipline!And my heart ^bspurned reproof!¹³“I have not listened to the voice of my ^ainstructors,And I have not inclined my ear to my teachers!¹⁴“I was almost in utter ruinIn the midst of the assembly and congregation.”¹⁵Drink water from your own cisternAnd ¹fresh water from your own well.¹⁶Should your ^asprings be dispersed abroad,Streams of water in the streets?¹⁷Let them be for you alone,And not for strangers with you.¹⁸Let your ^afountain be blessed,And ^bbe glad in the ^cwife of your youth.¹⁹As a loving ^ahind and a graceful doe,Let her breasts satisfy you at all times;Be ¹intoxicated always with her love.²⁰So why should you, my son, be intoxicated with a ^astrange womanAnd embrace the bosom of a ^bforeign woman?²¹For the ^aways of a man are before the eyes of Yahweh,And He ^bwatches all his tracks.²²His ^aown iniquities will capture him who is the wicked one,And with the cords of his sin he will be held fast.²³He will ^adie for lack of discipline,And in the abundance of his ¹folly he will ²stumble in intoxication.