Acts 25; Ruth 1; Ruth 2; Psalms 47

Acts 25

1 Three days after Festus arrived in the province, he went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea.

2 Then the chief priests and the leaders of the Jews presented their case against Paul to him; and they appealed,

3 asking him to do them a favor against Paul, that he might summon him to Jerusalem. They were preparing an ambush along the road to kill him.

4 However, Festus answered that Paul should be kept at Caesarea, and that he himself was about to go there shortly.

5 "Therefore," he said, "let the men of authority among you go down with me and accuse him, if there is any wrong in this man."

6 When he had spent not more than eight or 10 days among them, he went down to Caesarea. The next day, seated at the judge's bench, he commanded Paul to be brought in.

7 When he arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him and brought many serious charges that they were not able to prove,

8 while Paul made the defense that, "Neither against the Jewish law, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have I sinned at all."

9 Then Festus, wanting to do a favor for the Jews, replied to Paul, "Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem, there to be tried before me on these charges?"

10 But Paul said: "I am standing at Caesar's tribunal, where I ought to be tried. I have done no wrong to the Jews, as even you can see very well.

11 If then I am doing wrong, or have done anything deserving of death, I do not refuse to die, but if there is nothing to what these men accuse me of, no one can give me up to them. I appeal to Caesar!"

12 After Festus conferred with his council, he replied, "You have appealed to Caesar; to Caesar you will go!"

13 After some days had passed, King Agrippa 52-92. and Bernice arrived in Caesarea and paid a courtesy call on Festus.

14 Since they stayed there many days, Festus presented Paul's case to the king, saying, "There's a man who was left as a prisoner by Felix.

15 When I was in Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews presented their case and asked for a judgment against him.

16 I answered them that it's not the Romans' custom to give any man up before the accused confronts the accusers face to face and has an opportunity to give a defense concerning the charge.

17 Therefore, when they had assembled here, I did not delay. The next day I sat at the judge's bench and ordered the man to be brought in.

18 Concerning him, the accusers stood up and brought no charge of the sort I was expecting.

19 Instead they had some disagreements with him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus, a dead man whom Paul claimed to be alive.

20 Since I was at a loss in a dispute over such things, I asked him if he wished to go to Jerusalem and be tried there concerning these matters.

21 But when Paul appealed to be held for trial by the Emperor, I ordered him to be kept in custody until I could send him to Caesar."

22 Then Agrippa said to Festus, "I would like to hear the man myself." "Tomorrow," he said, "you will hear him."

23 So the next day, Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp and entered the auditorium with the commanders and prominent men of the city. When Festus gave the command, Paul was brought in.

24 Then Festus said: "King Agrippa and all men present with us, you see this man about whom the whole Jewish community has appealed to me, both in Jerusalem and here, shouting that he should not live any longer.

25 Now I realized that he had not done anything deserving of death, but when he himself appealed to the Emperor, I decided to send him.

26 I have nothing definite to write to the Emperor about him. Therefore, I have brought him before all of you, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after this examination is over, I may have something to write.

27 For it seems unreasonable to me to send a prisoner and not to indicate the charges against him."

Ruth 1

1 During the time of the judges, there was a famine in the land. A man left Bethlehem in Judah with his wife and two sons to live in the land of Moab for a while.

2 The man's name was Elimelech, and his wife's name was Naomi. The names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They entered the land of Moab and [settled] there.

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

4 Her sons took Moabite women as their wives: one was named Orpah and the second was named Ruth. After they lived in Moab about 10 years,

5 both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two children and without her husband.

6 She and her daughters-in-law prepared to leave the land of Moab, because she had heard in Moab that the Lord had paid attention to His people's [need] by providing them food.

7 She left the place where she had been living, accompanied by her two daughters-in-law, and traveled along the road leading back to the land of Judah.

8 She said to them, "Each of you go back to your mother's home. May the Lord show faithful love to you as you have shown to the dead and to me.

9 May the Lord enable each of you to find security in the house of your [new] husband." She kissed them, and they wept loudly.

10 "No," they said to her. "We will go with you to your people."

11 But Naomi replied, "Return home, my daughters. Why do you want to go with me? Am I able to have any more sons who could become your husbands?

12 Return home, my daughters. Go on, for I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was [still] hope for me to have a husband tonight and to bear sons,

13 would you be willing to wait for them to grow up? Would you restrain yourselves from remarrying? No, my daughters, [my life] is much too bitter for you [to share], because the Lord's hand has turned against me."

14 Again they wept loudly, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.

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

16 But Ruth replied: Do not persuade me to leave you or go back and not follow you. For wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you live, I will live; your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.

17 Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord do this to me, and even more, if anything but death separates you and me.

18 When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped trying to persuade her.

19 The two of them traveled until they came to Bethlehem. When they entered Bethlehem, the whole town was excited about their arrival and [the local women] exclaimed, "Can this be Naomi?"

20 "Don't call me Naomi. Call me Mara," she answered, "for the Almighty has made me very bitter.

21 I left full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has pronounced [judgment] on me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?"

22 So Naomi came back from the land of Moab with her daughter-in-law Ruth the Moabitess. They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.

Ruth 2

1 Now Naomi had a relative on her husband's side named Boaz. He was a prominent man of noble character from Elimelech's family.

2 Ruth the Moabitess asked Naomi, "Will you let me go into the fields and gather fallen grain behind someone who allows me to?" Naomi answered her, "Go ahead, my daughter."

3 So Ruth left and entered the field to gather [grain] behind the harvesters. She happened to be in the portion of land belonging to Boaz, who was from Elimelech's family.

4 Later, when Boaz arrived from Bethlehem, he said to the harvesters, "The Lord be with you." "The Lord bless you," they replied.

5 Boaz asked his servant who was in charge of the harvesters, "Whose young woman is this?"

6 The servant answered, "She is the young Moabite woman who returned with Naomi from the land of Moab.

7 She asked, 'Will you let me gather fallen grain among the bundles behind the harvesters?' She came and has remained from early morning until now, except that she rested a little in the shelter."

8 Then Boaz said to Ruth, "Listen, my daughter. Don't go and gather [grain] in another field, and don't leave this one, but stay here close to my young women.

9 See which field they are harvesting, and follow [them]. Haven't I ordered the young men not to touch you? When you are thirsty, go and drink from the jars the young men have filled."

10 She bowed with her face to the ground and said to him, "Why are you so kind to notice me, although I am a foreigner?"

11 Boaz answered her, "Everything you have done for your mother-in-law since your husband's death has been fully reported to me: [how] you left your father and mother, and the land of your birth, and [how] you came to a people you didn't previously know.

12 May the Lord reward you for what you have done, and may you receive a full reward from the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge."

13 "My lord," she said, "you have been so kind to me, for you have comforted and encouraged your slave, although I am not like one of your female servants."

14 At mealtime Boaz told her, "Come over here and have some bread and dip it in the vinegar sauce." So she sat beside the harvesters, and he offered her roasted grain. She ate and was satisfied and had [some] left over.

15 When she got up to gather [grain], Boaz ordered his young men, "Be sure to let her gather [grain] among the bundles, and don't humiliate her.

16 Pull out [some] stalks from the bundles for her and leave [them] for her to gather. Don't rebuke her."

17 So Ruth gathered [grain] in the field until evening. She beat out what she had gathered, and it was about 26 quarts of barley.

18 She picked up [the grain] and went into the city, where her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. Then she brought out what she had left over from her meal and gave [it] to her.

19 Then her mother-in-law said to her, "Where did you gather [barley] today, and where did you work? May [the Lord] bless the man who noticed you." Ruth told her mother-in-law about the men she had worked [with] and said, "The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz."

20 Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, "May he be blessed by the Lord, who has not forsaken his kindness to the living or the dead." Naomi continued, "The man is a close relative. He is one of our family redeemers."

21 Ruth the Moabitess said, "He also told me, 'Stay with my young men until they have finished all of my harvest.' "

22 So Naomi said to her daughter-in-law Ruth, "My daughter, it is good for you to work with his young women, so that nothing will happen to you in another field."

23 Ruth stayed close to Boaz's young women and gathered [grain] until the barley and the wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.

Psalms 47

1 Clap your hands, all you peoples; shout to God with a jubilant cry.

2 For the Lord Most High is awe-inspiring, a great King over all the earth.

3 He subdues peoples under us and nations under our feet.

4 He chooses for us our inheritance- the pride of Jacob, whom He loves. Selah

5 God ascends amid shouts of joy, the Lord, amid the sound of trumpets.

6 Sing praise to God, sing praise; sing praise to our King, sing praise!

7 Sing a song of instruction, for God is King of all the earth.

8 God reigns over the nations; God is seated on His holy throne.

9 The nobles of the peoples have assembled [with] the people of the God of Abraham. For the leaders of the earth belong to God; He is greatly exalted.