And the 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.
And they came into the country of Moab,
and continued there.
And Elimelech
Naomi's husband died;
and she was left,
and her
two sons.
***
And Boaz
said unto the elders,
and unto all the people,
Ye are witnesses this day, that I have bought
all that was Elimelech's, and all
that was Chilion's and Mahlon's,
of
the hand of Naomi.
*****
The Lord
hath broken the staff of
the wicked,
and the sceptre of
the rulers.
He
who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke,
he
that ruled the nations in anger,
is
persecuted,
and none hindereth.
The whole earth is at rest,
and is quiet:
they
break forth into singing.
Yea,
the fir
trees rejoice at thee,
and the cedars of Lebanon,
saying,
Since thou art laid down,
no feller is come up against us.
Hell from beneath
is moved for thee to
meet thee
at thy coming:
it stirreth up the dead for thee,
even
all
the chief ones of
the earth;
it
hath raised
up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.
**
When I lie down,
I say,
When shall I arise,
and the night be gone?
and I am full of tossings
to and
fro unto the dawning of the day.
My flesh
is clothed with worms
and clods of dust;
my skin is broken,
and become loathsome.
**
All they shall speak
and say unto thee,
Art thou also become weak as we?
art thou become like unto
us?
Thy
pomp is brought
down to the grave,
and the noise of
thy viols:
the worm
is spread under
thee,
and the worms cover thee.
How art thou fallen from heaven, O
Lucifer,
son of the morning!
how art thou cut down
to the ground,
which didst weaken the nations!
*****
Moreover Ruth the Moabitess,
the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my
wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance,
that the name of
the dead
be not cut off from among his
brethren,
and from the gate of
his place:
ye are witnesses
this day.
And all the people that were in the gate,
and the elders,
said,
We
are witnesses. The Lord make the workman that is come into thine
house like Rachel and
like Leah,
which
two did
build the house of Israel:
and do thou worthily in Ephratah,
and be famous
in Bethlehem:
*****
And it came to pass,
that,
when the sun went down,
and it was dark,
behold a
smoking furnace,
and a burning lamp
that passed between those
pieces.
In
the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram,
saying,
Unto thy seed have I
given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:
***
And I will establish
my covenant between - me and thee - and thy seed
after thee in their
generations for an everlasting covenant,
to be a God unto thee,
and to thy
seed after thee.
***
And
God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his
name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting
covenant, and with his seed after him.
*
.
. . for
in Isaac shall
thy seed be called.
***
And Dinah the daughter
of Leah,
which
she bare unto
Jacob,
went out to see
the daughters of the land.
And when Shechem the
son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country,
saw
her,
he took
her,
and lay with her,
and defiled
her.
***
And the land which
I gave Abraham and Isaac,
to thee I will give it,
and to thy seed after thee will I
give the land.
***
And Er, Judah's
firstborn,
was wicked in the sight of
the Lord; and the Lord
slew him.
And Judah
said unto Onan,
Go in unto thy brother's wife,
and marry her,
and raise up seed to thy brother.
And Onan knew that the
seed should not be his; and it came to pass,
when he went in
unto his brother's wife,
that he spilled it on the ground,
lest that
he should give seed to
his brother.
***
And
it came to pass about three months after,
that it was told Judah,
saying,
Tamar thy daughter - in law hath played the harlot;
and
also,
behold,
she
is with child by whoredom.
And
Judah said,
Bring
her
forth,
and
let her be burnt.
When
she was brought forth,
she sent to her father in law,
saying,
By
the man,
whose
these are,
am
I with
child:
and
she said,
Discern,
I
pray thee, whose are
these,
the signet,
and
bracelets,
and
staff.
And
Judah acknowledged
them,
and
said,
She
hath been more righteous - than I;
because that I gave her not to Shelah my son. And he knew
her again - no more.
And
it came to pass in
the time of her travail, that,
behold,
twins
were in her
womb.
And
it came to pass,
when
she travailed,
that the one put
out his hand: and the midwife took and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread,
saying, This came out first.
And
it came to pass, as he drew
back his hand,
that,
behold,
his brother came out:
and
she said,
How hast
thou broken forth?
this
breach be
upon thee:
therefore
his name was called Pharez.
*****
And let thy
house be like
the house of Pharez,
whom Tamar
- bare unto Judah,
of the seed which
the Lord shall give thee of this young woman.
ISamuelX
