Today's Reading

¹Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpah, saying, "There shall not any of us give his daughter to Benjamin as wife."

²The people came to Bethel, and sat there until evening before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept severely.

³They said, "Lord God of Israel, why has this happened in Israel, that there should be today one tribe lacking in Israel?"

⁴It happened on the next day that the people rose early, and built there an altar, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.

⁵The children of Israel said, "Who is there among all the tribes of Israel who did not come up in the assembly to the Lord?" For they had made a great oath concerning anyone who did not come up to the Lord to Mizpah, saying, "He shall surely be put to death."

⁶The children of Israel grieved for Benjamin their brother, and said, "There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day.

⁷How shall we do for wives for those who remain, seeing we have sworn by the Lord that we will not give them of our daughters to wives?"

⁸They said, "What one is there of the tribes of Israel who did not come up to the Lord to Mizpah?" Behold, no one came to the camp from Jabesh Gilead to the assembly.

⁹For when the people were numbered, behold, there were none of the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead there.

¹⁰The congregation sent there twelve thousand men of the most valiant, and commanded them, saying, "Go and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the little ones.

¹¹This is the thing that you shall do: you shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman who has slept with a man."

¹²They found among the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead four hundred young virgins who had never slept with a man; and they brought them to the camp to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.

¹³The whole congregation sent and spoke to the children of Benjamin who were in the rock of Rimmon, and proclaimed peace to them.

¹⁴Benjamin returned at that time; and they gave them the women whom they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh Gilead: and yet so they weren't enough for them.

¹⁵The people grieved for Benjamin, because the Lord had made a gap in the tribes of Israel.

¹⁶Then the elders of the congregation said, "How shall we provide wives for those who remain, since the women of Benjamin have been destroyed?"

¹⁷They said, "There must be an inheritance for those who are escaped of Benjamin, that a tribe not be blotted out from Israel.

¹⁸However we may not give them wives of our daughters, for the children of Israel had sworn, saying, 'Cursed is he who gives a wife to Benjamin.'"

¹⁹They said, "Behold, there is a feast of the Lord from year to year in Shiloh, which is on the north of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah."

²⁰They commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, "Go and lie in wait in the vineyards,

²¹and watch. If the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances, then come out of the vineyards, and each man catch his wife from the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.

²²It shall be, when their fathers or their brothers come to complain to us, that we will say to them, 'Grant them graciously to us, because we didn't take wives for each man in battle, neither did you give them to them, otherwise you would now be guilty.'"

²³The children of Benjamin did so, and took them wives, according to their number, of those who danced, whom they carried off. They went and returned to their inheritance, built the cities, and lived in them.

²⁴The children of Israel departed there at that time, every man to his tribe and to his family, and they went out from there every man to his inheritance.

²⁵In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

¹It happened in the days when the judges judged, that there was a famine in the land. A certain man of Bethlehem Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.

²The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem Judah. They came into the country of Moab, and continued there.

³Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died; and she was left, and her two sons.

⁴And they took for themselves wives from the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they lived there about ten years.

⁵Mahlon and Chilion died both of them; and the woman was left of her two children and of her husband.

⁶Then she arose with her daughters-in-law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread.

⁷She went forth out of 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.

⁸Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Go, return each of you to her mother's house: the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead, and with me.

⁹The Lord grant you that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband." Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voice, and wept.

¹⁰They said to her, "No, but we will return with you to your people."

¹¹Naomi said, "Go back, my daughters. Why do you want to go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands?

¹²Go back, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say, 'I have hope,' if I should even have a husband tonight, and should also bear sons;

¹³would you then wait until they were grown? Would you then refrain from having husbands? No, my daughters, for it grieves me much for your sakes, for the hand of the Lord has gone out against me."

¹⁴They lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth joined with her.

¹⁵She said, "Behold, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people, and to her god. Follow your sister-in-law.

¹⁶Ruth said, "Do not urge me to leave you, and to return from following after you, for where you go, I will go; and where you stay, I will stay; your people shall be my people, and your God my God;

¹⁷where you die, will I die, and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, if anything but death part you and me."

¹⁸When she saw that she was steadfastly minded to go with her, she left off speaking to her.

¹⁹So they two went until they came to Bethlehem. It happened, when they had come to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about them, and they asked, "Is this Naomi?"

²⁰She said to them, "Do not call me Naomi. Call me Marah; for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.

²¹I went out full, and the Lord has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?"

²²So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her, who returned out of the country of Moab: and they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.

¹Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz.

²Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, "Let me now go to the field, and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor." She said to her, "Go, my daughter."

³She went, and came and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and she happened to come to the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.

⁴Behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said to the reapers, "The Lord be with you." They answered him, "The Lord bless you."

⁵Then Boaz said to his servant who was set over the reapers, "Whose young lady is this?"

⁶The servant who was set over the reapers answered, "It is the Moabite lady who came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab.

⁷She said, 'Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.' So she came, and has continued even from the morning until now, except that she stayed a little in the house."

⁸Then Boaz said to Ruth, "Listen, my daughter. Do not go to glean in another field, and do not go from here, but stay here close to my maidens.

⁹Let your eyes be on the field that they reap, and go after them. Haven't I commanded the young men not to touch you? When you are thirsty, go to the vessels, and drink from that which the young men have drawn."

¹⁰Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said to him, "Why have I found favor in your sight, that you should take knowledge of me, since I am a foreigner?"

¹¹Boaz answered her, "It has fully been shown to me, all that you have done to your mother-in-law since the death of your husband; and how you have left your father and your mother, and the land of your birth, and have come to a people that you didn't know before.

¹²May the Lord repay your work, and a full reward be given you from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge."

¹³Then she said, "Let me find favor in your sight, my lord, because you have comforted me, and because you have spoken kindly to your handmaid, though I am not as one of your handmaidens."

¹⁴At meal time Boaz said to her, "Come here, and eat of the bread, and dip your morsel in the vinegar." She sat beside the reapers, and they reached her parched grain, and she ate, and was satisfied, and left some of it.

¹⁵When she had risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, "Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her.

¹⁶Also pull out some for her from the bundles, and leave it, and let her glean, and do not rebuke her."

¹⁷So she gleaned in the field until evening; and she beat out that which she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley.

¹⁸She took it up, and went into the city; and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned: and she brought out and gave to her that which she had left after she was sufficed.

¹⁹Her mother-in-law said to her, "Where have you gleaned today? And where have you worked? Blessed be he who noticed you." She showed her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, and said, "The man's name with whom I worked today is Boaz."

²⁰Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, "Blessed be he of the Lord, who has not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead." Naomi said to her, "The man is a close relative to us, one of our near kinsmen."

²¹Ruth the Moabitess said, "Yes, he said to me, 'You shall stay close to my young men, until they have ended all my harvest.'"

²²Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, "It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his maidens, and that they not meet you in any other field."

²³So she stayed close to the maidens of Boaz, to glean to the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest; and she lived with her mother-in-law.

¹"Truly, truly, I tell you, one who does not enter by the door into the sheep fold, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.

²But one who enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

³The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out.

⁴Whenever he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

⁵They will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him; for they do not know the voice of strangers."

⁶Jesus spoke this parable to them, but they did not understand what he was telling them.

⁷Jesus therefore said to them again, "Truly, truly, I tell you, I am the sheep's door.

⁸All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.

⁹I am the door. If anyone enters in by me, he will be saved, and will go in and go out, and will find pasture.

¹⁰The thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.

¹¹I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

¹²He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep, and flees. The wolf snatches the sheep, and scatters them.

¹³The hired hand flees because he is a hired hand, and does not care for the sheep.

¹⁴I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me;

¹⁵even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep.

¹⁶I have other sheep, which are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice. They will become one flock with one shepherd.

¹⁷Therefore the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again.

¹⁸No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down by myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. I received this commandment from my Father."

¹⁹Therefore a division arose again among the Jewish people because of these words.

²⁰Many of them said, "He has a demon, and is insane! Why do you listen to him?"

²¹Others said, "These are not the sayings of one possessed by a demon. It is not possible for a demon to open the eyes of the blind, is it?"

²²It was the Feast of the Dedication at Jerusalem.

²³It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in Solomon's porch.

²⁴The Jewish leaders therefore came around him and said to him, "How long will you hold us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly."

²⁵Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name, these testify about me.

²⁶But you do not believe, because you are not of my sheep.

²⁷My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

²⁸I give eternal life to them. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

²⁹My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.

³⁰I and the Father are one."

³¹Therefore the Jewish leaders took up stones again to stone him.

³²Jesus answered them, "I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of those works do you stone me?"

³³The Jewish leaders answered him, "We do not stone you for a good work, but for blasphemy: because you, being a man, make yourself God."

³⁴Jesus answered them, "Is not it written in your law, 'I said, you are gods?'

³⁵If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken),

³⁶do you say of him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You blaspheme,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God?'

³⁷If I do not do the works of my Father, do not believe me.

³⁸But if I do them, though you do not believe me, believe the works; that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father."

³⁹They sought again to seize him, and he went out of their hand.

⁴⁰He went away again beyond the Jordan into the place where John was baptizing at first, and there he stayed.

⁴¹Many came to him. They said, "John indeed did no sign, but everything that John said about this man is true."

⁴²And many believed in him there.

¹ Hear my teaching, my people. Turn your ears to the words of my mouth.

²I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings of old,

³which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.

⁴We will not hide them from their children, telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, his strength, and his wondrous works that he has done.

⁵For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a teaching in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children;

⁶that the generation to come might know, even the children who should be born; who should arise and tell their children,

⁷that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments,

⁸and might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that did not make their hearts loyal, whose spirit was not steadfast with God.

⁹The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.

¹⁰They did not keep God's covenant, and refused to walk by his Law.

¹¹They forgot his doings, his wondrous works that he had shown them.

¹²He did marvelous things in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.

¹³He split the sea, and caused them to pass through. He made the waters stand as a heap.

¹⁴In the daytime he also led them with a cloud, and all night with a light of fire.

¹⁵He split rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink abundantly as out of the depths.

¹⁶He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.

¹⁷Yet they still went on to sin against him, to rebel against the Most High in the desert.

¹⁸They tempted God in their heart by asking food according to their desire.

¹⁹Yes, they spoke against God. They said, "Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?

²⁰Behold, he struck the rock, so that waters gushed out, and streams overflowed. Can he give bread also? Will he provide flesh for his people?"

²¹Therefore the Lord heard, and was angry. A fire was kindled against Jacob, anger also went up against Israel,

²²because they did not believe in God, and did not trust in his salvation.

²³Yet he commanded the skies above, and opened the doors of heaven.

²⁴He rained down manna on them to eat, and gave them bread from heaven.

²⁵Man ate the bread of angels. He sent them food to the full.

²⁶He caused the east wind to blow in the sky. By his power he guided the south wind.

²⁷He rained also flesh on them as the dust; winged birds as the sand of the seas.

²⁸He let them fall in the midst of their camp, around their habitations.

²⁹So they ate, and were well filled. He gave them their own desire.

³⁰They did not turn from their cravings. Their food was yet in their mouths,

³¹when the anger of God went up against them, killed some of the fattest of them, and struck down the young men of Israel.

³²For all this they still sinned, and did not believe in his wondrous works.

³³Therefore he consumed their days in vanity, and their years in terror.

³⁴When he killed them, then they inquired after him. They returned and sought God earnestly.

³⁵They remembered that God was their rock, the Most High God, their redeemer.

³⁶But they flattered him with their mouth, and lied to him with their tongue.

³⁷For their heart was not right with him, neither were they faithful in his covenant.

³⁸But he, being merciful, forgave iniquity, and did not destroy them. Yes, many times he turned his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.

³⁹He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes away, and doesn't come again.

⁴⁰How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness, and grieved him in the desert!

⁴¹They turned again and tempted God, and provoked the Holy One of Israel.

⁴²They did not remember his hand, nor the day when he redeemed them from the adversary;

⁴³how he set his signs in Egypt, his wonders in the field of Zoan,

⁴⁴he turned their rivers into blood, and their streams, so that they could not drink.

⁴⁵He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them.

⁴⁶He gave also their increase to the caterpillar, and their labor to the locust.

⁴⁷He destroyed their vines with hail, their sycamore fig trees with frost.

⁴⁸He gave over their livestock also to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts.

⁴⁹He threw on them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, indignation, and trouble, and a band of destroying angels.

⁵⁰He made a path for his anger. He did not spare their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence,

⁵¹and struck all the firstborn in Egypt, the chief of their strength in the tents of Ham.

⁵²But he led forth his own people like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

⁵³He led them safely, so that they weren't afraid, but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.

⁵⁴He brought them to the border of his sanctuary, to this mountain, which his right hand had taken.

⁵⁵He also drove out the nations before them, allotted them for an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.

⁵⁶Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God, and did not keep his testimonies;

⁵⁷but turned back, and dealt treacherously like their fathers. They were turned aside like a deceitful bow.

⁵⁸For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their engraved images.

⁵⁹When God heard this, he was angry, and greatly abhorred Israel;

⁶⁰So that he forsook the tent of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men;

⁶¹and delivered his strength into captivity, his glory into the adversary's hand.

⁶²He also gave his people over to the sword, and was angry with his inheritance.

⁶³Fire devoured their young men. Their virgins had no wedding song.

⁶⁴Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows couldn't weep.

⁶⁵Then the Lord awakened as one out of sleep, like a mighty man who shouts by reason of wine.

⁶⁶He struck his adversaries backward. He put them to a perpetual reproach.

⁶⁷Moreover he rejected the tent of Joseph, and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,

⁶⁸But chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which he loved.

⁶⁹He built his sanctuary like the heights, like the earth which he has established forever.

⁷⁰He also chose David his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds;

⁷¹from following the ewes that have their young, he brought him to be the shepherd of Jacob, his people, and Israel, his inheritance.

⁷²So he was their shepherd according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.

¹The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.

²All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the Lord weighs the motives.

³Commit your deeds to the Lord, and your plans shall succeed.

⁴The Lord has made everything for its own end- yes, even the wicked for the day of evil.

⁵Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord: they shall certainly not be unpunished.

⁶By mercy and truth iniquity is atoned for. By the fear of the Lord men depart from evil.

⁷When a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.

⁸Better is a little with righteousness, than great revenues with injustice.

⁹A man's heart plans his course, but the Lord directs his steps.

¹⁰Inspired judgments are on the lips of the king. He shall not betray his mouth.

¹¹Honest balances and scales are the Lord's; all the weights in the bag are his work.

¹²It is an abomination for kings to do wrong, for the throne is established by righteousness.

¹³Righteous lips are the delight of kings. They value one who speaks the truth.

¹⁴The king's wrath is a messenger of death, but a wise man will pacify it.

¹⁵In the light of the king's face is life. His favor is like a cloud of the spring rain.

¹⁶How much better it is to get wisdom than gold! Yes, to get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.

¹⁷The highway of the upright is to depart from evil. He who keeps his way preserves his soul.

¹⁸Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

¹⁹It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor, than to divide the plunder with the proud.

²⁰He who heeds the Word finds prosperity. Whoever trusts in the Lord is blessed.

²¹The wise in heart shall be called prudent. Pleasantness of the lips promotes instruction.

²²Understanding is a fountain of life to one who has it, but the punishment of fools is their folly.

²³The heart of the wise instructs his mouth, and adds learning to his lips.

²⁴Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.

²⁵There is a way which seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.

²⁶The appetite of the laboring man labors for him; for his mouth urges him on.

²⁷A worthless man devises mischief. His speech is like a scorching fire.

²⁸A perverse man stirs up strife. A whisperer separates close friends.

²⁹A man of violence entices his neighbor, and leads him in a way that is not good.

³⁰One who winks his eyes to plot perversities, one who compresses his lips, is bent on evil.

³¹Gray hair is a crown of glory. It is attained by a life of righteousness.

³²One who is slow to anger is better than the mighty; one who rules his spirit, than he who takes a city.

³³The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.