Ruth 2

Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side, a man of great wealth from the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Please let me go to the field and glean among the heads of grain behind someone in whose eyes I find favor.” She said to her, “Go, my daughter.” She went and gleaned in the field behind the reapers. She happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelech. Boaz came from Bethlehem and said to the reapers, “The LORD be with you!” They said to him, “The LORD bless you!” Boaz said to his servant who was in charge of the reapers, “Whose young woman is this?” The servant in charge of the reapers answered, “She is the young Moabite woman who returned with Naomi from the country of Moab. She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the reapers.’ She came and has continued from morning until now, except for a little rest in the house.” Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter. Do not go to glean in another field or leave this place. Stay here close to my young women. Keep your eyes on the field they are harvesting and follow the women. Have I not commanded the young men not to touch you? When you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink what the young men have drawn.” She fell on her face and bowed to the ground. She said to him, “Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, when I am a foreigner?” Boaz answered her, “I have been fully told all you have done for your mother-in-law since your husband died, how you left your father and mother and the land of your birth and came to a people you had not known before. May the LORD repay your work, and may your reward be full from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.” She said, “May I find favor in your eyes, my lord, for you have comforted me and spoken tenderly to your servant, though I am not like one of your female servants.” At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come here, eat some bread, and dip your morsel in the vinegar.” She sat beside the reapers, and he offered her roasted grain. She ate and was satisfied and had some left over. When she arose to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not shame her. Also pull out some stalks from the bundles for her and leave them for her to glean. Do not rebuke her.” She gleaned in the field until evening. She beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about twenty quarts of barley. She carried it into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She also brought out and gave her what she had left after she was satisfied. Her mother-in-law said to her, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the one who took notice of you!” She told her mother-in-law whom she had worked with and said, “The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz.” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “Blessed be he by the LORD, who has not abandoned his kindness to the living and the dead.” Naomi said to her, “The man is related to us, one of our redeemers.” Ruth the Moabite said, “He also told me, ‘Stay close to my young men until they have finished all my harvest.’” Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, for you to go out with his young women, so that you will not be attacked in another field.” So she stayed close to Boaz’s young women, gleaning until the barley harvest and the wheat harvest were finished. She lived with her mother-in-law.

Rights and attribution