Saturday 1 March 2025 DAILY LECTIONARY

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Saturday 1 March 2025 
DAILY LECTIONARY

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Ruth 4:1-17

No sooner had Boaz gone up to the gate and sat down there than the
next-of-kin,* of whom Boaz had spoken, came passing by. So Boaz said,
‘Come over, friend; sit down here.’ And he went over and sat down.
Then Boaz took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, ‘Sit
down here’; so they sat down. He then said to the next-of-kin,*
‘Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is selling the
parcel of land that belonged to our kinsman Elimelech. So I thought I
would tell you of it, and say: Buy it in the presence of those sitting
here, and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will
redeem it, redeem it; but if you will not, tell me, so that I may
know; for there is no one prior to you to redeem it, and I come after
you.’ So he said, ‘I will redeem it.’ Then Boaz said, ‘The day
you acquire the field from the hand of Naomi, you are also acquiring
Ruth* the Moabite, the widow of the dead man, to maintain the dead
man’s name on his inheritance.’ At this, the next-of-kin* said,
‘I cannot redeem it for myself without damaging my own inheritance.
Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it.’

 Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning
redeeming and exchanging: to confirm a transaction, one party took off
a sandal and gave it to the other; this was the manner of attesting in
Israel. So when the next-of-kin* said to Boaz, ‘Acquire it for
yourself’, he took off his sandal. Then Boaz said to the elders and
all the people, ‘Today you are witnesses that I have acquired from
the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged
to Chilion and Mahlon. I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, the wife
of Mahlon, to be my wife, to maintain the dead man’s name on his
inheritance, in order that the name of the dead may not be cut off
from his kindred and from the gate of his native place; today you are
witnesses.’ Then all the people who were at the gate, along with the
elders, said, ‘We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is
coming into your house like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the
house of Israel. May you produce children in Ephrathah and bestow a
name in Bethlehem; and, through the children that the Lord will give
you by this young woman, may your house be like the house of Perez,
whom Tamar bore to Judah.’
 So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When they came together,
the Lord made her conceive, and she bore a son. Then the women said to
Naomi, ‘Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without
next-of-kin;* and may his name be renowned in Israel! He shall be to
you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age; for your
daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has
borne him.’ Then Naomi took the child and laid him in her bosom, and
became his nurse. The women of the neighbourhood gave him a name,
saying, ‘A son has been born to Naomi.’ They named him Obed; he
became the father of Jesse, the father of David.
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2 Corinthians 4:13-5:10

But just as we have the same spirit of faith that is in accordance
with scripture—‘I believed, and so I spoke’—we also believe,
and so we speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord
Jesus will raise us also with Jesus, and will bring us with you into
his presence. Yes, everything is for your sake, so that grace, as it
extends to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving, to the
glory of God.
 So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting
away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight
momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory
beyond all measure, because we look not at what can be seen but at
what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what
cannot be seen is eternal.

For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have
a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the
heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to be clothed with our
heavenly dwelling— if indeed, when we have taken it off* we will not
be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan under
our burden, because we wish not to be unclothed but to be further
clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who
has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the
Spirit as a guarantee.

 So we are always confident; even though we know that while we are at
home in the body we are away from the Lord— for we walk by faith,
not by sight. Yes, we do have confidence, and we would rather be away
from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or
away, we make it our aim to please him. For all of us must appear
before the judgement seat of Christ, so that each may receive
recompense for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil.
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Matthew 6:1-16

‘Beware of practising your piety before others in order to be seen
by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.

 ‘So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as
the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they
may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their
reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what
your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and
your Father who sees in secret will reward you.*
 ‘And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they
love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so
that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received
their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the
door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who
sees in secret will reward you.*

 ‘When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the
Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their
many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need
before you ask him.

 ‘Pray then in this way:
Our Father in heaven,
   hallowed be your name. 
   Your kingdom come.
   Your will be done,
     on earth as it is in heaven. 
   Give us this day our daily bread.* 
   And forgive us our debts,
     as we also have forgiven our debtors. 
   And do not bring us to the time of trial,*
     but rescue us from the evil one.* 
For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will
also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your
Father forgive your trespasses.
 ‘And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites,
for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are
fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.
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Morning Psalms: Psalm 137, 144

Psalm 137

By the rivers of Babylon—
   there we sat down and there we wept
   when we remembered Zion. 
On the willows* there
   we hung up our harps. 
For there our captors
   asked us for songs,
and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying,
   ‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion!’ 

How could we sing the Lord’s song
   in a foreign land? 
If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
   let my right hand wither! 
Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth,
   if I do not remember you,
if I do not set Jerusalem
   above my highest joy. 

Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites
   the day of Jerusalem’s fall,
how they said, ‘Tear it down! Tear it down!
   Down to its foundations!’ 
O daughter Babylon, you devastator!*
   Happy shall they be who pay you back
   what you have done to us! 
Happy shall they be who take your little ones
   and dash them against the rock!

Psalm 144

Blessed be the Lord, my rock,
   who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle; 
my rock* and my fortress,
   my stronghold and my deliverer,
my shield, in whom I take refuge,
   who subdues the peoples* under me. 

O Lord, what are human beings that you regard them,
   or mortals that you think of them? 
They are like a breath;
   their days are like a passing shadow. 

Bow your heavens, O Lord, and come down;
   touch the mountains so that they smoke. 
Make the lightning flash and scatter them;
   send out your arrows and rout them. 
Stretch out your hand from on high;
   set me free and rescue me from the mighty waters,
   from the hand of aliens, 
whose mouths speak lies,
   and whose right hands are false. 

I will sing a new song to you, O God;
   upon a ten-stringed harp I will play to you, 
the one who gives victory to kings,
   who rescues his servant David. 
Rescue me from the cruel sword,
   and deliver me from the hand of aliens,
whose mouths speak lies,
   and whose right hands are false. 

May our sons in their youth
   be like plants full grown,
our daughters like corner pillars,
   cut for the building of a palace. 
May our barns be filled
   with produce of every kind;
may our sheep increase by thousands,
   by tens of thousands in our fields, 
   and may our cattle be heavy with young.
May there be no breach in the walls,* no exile,
   and no cry of distress in our streets. 

Happy are the people to whom such blessings fall;
   happy are the people whose God is the Lord.
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Evening Psalms: Psalm 104

Psalm 104

Bless the Lord, O my soul.
   O Lord my God, you are very great.
You are clothed with honour and majesty, 
   wrapped in light as with a garment.
You stretch out the heavens like a tent, 
   you set the beams of your* chambers on the waters,
you make the clouds your* chariot,
   you ride on the wings of the wind, 
you make the winds your* messengers,
   fire and flame your* ministers. 

You set the earth on its foundations,
   so that it shall never be shaken. 
You cover it with the deep as with a garment;
   the waters stood above the mountains. 
At your rebuke they flee;
   at the sound of your thunder they take to flight. 
They rose up to the mountains, ran down to the valleys
   to the place that you appointed for them. 
You set a boundary that they may not pass,
   so that they might not again cover the earth. 

You make springs gush forth in the valleys;
   they flow between the hills, 
giving drink to every wild animal;
   the wild asses quench their thirst. 
By the streams* the birds of the air have their habitation;
   they sing among the branches. 
>From your lofty abode you water the mountains;
   the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work. 

You cause the grass to grow for the cattle,
   and plants for people to use,*
to bring forth food from the earth, 
   and wine to gladden the human heart,
oil to make the face shine,
   and bread to strengthen the human heart. 
The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly,
   the cedars of Lebanon that he planted. 
In them the birds build their nests;
   the stork has its home in the fir trees. 
The high mountains are for the wild goats;
   the rocks are a refuge for the coneys. 
You have made the moon to mark the seasons;
   the sun knows its time for setting. 
You make darkness, and it is night,
   when all the animals of the forest come creeping out. 
The young lions roar for their prey,
   seeking their food from God. 
When the sun rises, they withdraw
   and lie down in their dens. 
People go out to their work
   and to their labour until the evening. 

O Lord, how manifold are your works!
   In wisdom you have made them all;
   the earth is full of your creatures. 
Yonder is the sea, great and wide,
   creeping things innumerable are there,
   living things both small and great. 
There go the ships,
   and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it. 

These all look to you
   to give them their food in due season; 
when you give to them, they gather it up;
   when you open your hand, they are filled with good things. 
When you hide your face, they are dismayed;
   when you take away their breath, they die
   and return to their dust. 
When you send forth your spirit,* they are created;
   and you renew the face of the ground. 

May the glory of the Lord endure for ever;
   may the Lord rejoice in his works— 
who looks on the earth and it trembles,
   who touches the mountains and they smoke. 
I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
   I will sing praise to my God while I have being. 
May my meditation be pleasing to him,
   for I rejoice in the Lord. 
Let sinners be consumed from the earth,
   and let the wicked be no more.
Bless the Lord, O my soul.
Praise the Lord!
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