Ruth 1:8

²⁰Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by the LORD, who has not abandoned 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.”

⁵Mahlon and Chilion both died, and the woman was bereaved of her two children and of her husband.

¹⁸Wives, be in subjection to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.

²⁴knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.

²“Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with a promise: ³“that it may be well with you, and you may live long on the earth.”

²²Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord.

¹⁵If it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose today whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

¹⁶The people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD, to serve other gods; ¹⁷for it is the LORD our God who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way in which we went, and among all the peoples through the middle of whom we passed. ¹⁸The LORD drove out from before us all the peoples, even the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the LORD; for he is our God.”

¹⁹Joshua said to the people, “You can’t serve the LORD, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your disobedience nor your sins. ²⁰If you forsake the LORD, and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you evil, and consume you, after he has done you good.”

²¹The people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the LORD.” ²²Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the LORD yourselves, to serve him.” They said, “We are witnesses.”

²³“Now therefore put away the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your heart to the LORD, the God of Israel.”

²⁴The people said to Joshua, “We will serve the LORD our God, and we will listen to his voice.”

²⁵So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. ²⁶Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God; and he took a great stone, and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the LORD. ²⁷Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all the LORD’s words which he spoke to us. It shall be therefore a witness against you, lest you deny your God.” ²⁸So Joshua sent the people away, each to his own inheritance.

¹⁶May the Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain, ¹⁷but when he was in Rome, he sought me diligently and found me ¹⁸(the Lord grant to him to find the Lord’s mercy in that day); and in how many things he served at Ephesus, you know very well.

¹⁸But I have all things and abound. I am filled, having received from Epaphroditus the things that came from you, a sweet-smelling fragrance, an acceptable and well-pleasing sacrifice to God. ¹⁹My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

^25[+] Now great multitudes were going with him. He turned and said to them, ²⁶“If anyone comes to me, and doesn’t disregard^[+] his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he can’t be my disciple. ²⁷Whoever doesn’t bear his own cross and come after me, can’t be my disciple. ²⁸For which of you, desiring to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and count the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it? ²⁹Or perhaps, when he has laid a foundation and isn’t able to finish, everyone who sees begins to mock him, ³⁰saying, ‘This man began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’ ³¹Or what king, as he goes to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? ³²Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an envoy and asks for conditions of peace. ³³So therefore, whoever of you who doesn’t renounce all that he has, he can’t be my disciple.