CHAPTER 2
Now Naomi
had a relative
on her husband’s side,
a prominent
man
of noble character
from the clan
of Elimelech,
whose name
was Boaz.
And Ruth
the Moabitess
said
to Naomi,
“Please
let me go
into the fields
and glean
heads of grain
behind someone
in whose
sight
I may find
favor.”
“Go ahead,
my daughter,”
Naomi replied.
So Ruth departed
and went out
into the field
and gleaned
after
the harvesters.
And she happened
to come
to the part
of the field
belonging to Boaz,
who was
from the clan
of Elimelech.
Just then
Boaz
arrived
from
Bethlehem
and said
to the harvesters,
“The LORD
be with you.”
“The LORD
bless you,”
they replied.
She has said,
‘Please
let me glean
and gather
among the sheaves
behind
the harvesters.’
So she came out
and has continued
from
morning
until
now,
except
that she rested
a short time
in the shelter.”
Then Boaz
said
to
Ruth,
“Listen,
my daughter.
Do not
go
and glean
in another
field,
and
do not
go away
from this place,
but stay here
close
to
my servant girls.
Let your eyes be on
the
field
they are harvesting,
and follow along
after these girls.
Indeed,
I have ordered
the young men
not
to touch you.
And when you are thirsty,
go
and drink
from
the jars
the young men
have filled.”
At this, she fell
on
her face,
bowing low
to the ground,
and said
to him,
“Why
have I found
such favor
in your eyes
that you should take notice of me,
even though I am
a foreigner?”
Boaz
replied,
“I have been made fully aware
of all
you have done
for
your mother-in-law
since
the death
of your husband,
how you left
your father
and mother
and the land
of your birth,
and how you came
to
a people
you did not
know
before.
May the LORD
repay
your work,
and may you receive
a rich
reward
from
the LORD,
the God
of Israel,
under
whose
wings
you have taken
refuge.”
“My lord,”
she said,
“may I continue to find
favor
in your eyes,
for
you have comforted
and spoken
kindly
to
your maidservant,
though I
am
not
like one
of your servant girls.”
At mealtime
Boaz
said
to her,
“Come over
here;
have
some
bread
and dip
it
into the vinegar sauce.”
So she sat down
beside
the harvesters,
and he offered
her
roasted grain,
and she ate
and was satisfied
and had some left over.
When Ruth got up
to glean,
Boaz
ordered
his young men,
“Even if
she gathers
among
the sheaves,
do not
insult her.
Rather,
pull out
for her
some stalks from
the bundles
and leave
them for her to gather.
Do not
rebuke
her.”
So Ruth gathered grain
in the field
until
evening.
And when she beat out
what
she had gleaned,
it was
about an ephah
of barley.
She picked up the grain
and went into
the town,
where her mother-in-law
saw
what
she had gleaned.
And she brought out
what
she had saved
from her meal
and gave it
to Naomi.
Then her mother-in-law
asked
her,
“Where
did you glean
today,
and where
did you work?
Blessed
be the man
who noticed you.”
So she told
her mother-in-law
where
she had worked.
“The name
of the man
I worked
with
today
is Boaz,”
she said.
Then Naomi
said
to her daughter-in-law,
“May he
be blessed
by the LORD,
who
has not
withdrawn
his kindness
from
the living
or the dead.”
Naomi
continued,
“The man
is a close relative.
He
is one of our
kinsman-redeemers.”
Then Ruth
the Moabitess
said,
“He also
told me,
‘Stay
with
my young men
until
they have finished gathering
all
my
harvest.’”
And 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.”
So Ruth stayed close
to the servant girls
of Boaz
to glean
grain until
the barley
and wheat
harvests
were finished.
And she lived
with
her mother-in-law.