[1] Naomi had a kinsman of her husband`s, a mighty man of wealth, of the
family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz. [2] Ruth the Moabitess said to
Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean among the ears of grain after
him in whose sight I shall find favor. She said to her, Go, my daughter.
[3] She went, and came and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and she
happened to come to the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of
the family of Elimelech. [4] Behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said to
the reapers, Yahweh be with you. They answered him, Yahweh bless you. [5]
Then said Boaz to his servant who was set over the reapers, Whose young
lady is this? [6] The servant who was set over the reapers answered, It is
the Moabite lady who came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab: [7]
She said, Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the
sheaves. So she came, and has continued even from the morning until now,
except that she stayed a little in the house. [8] Then said Boaz to Ruth,
Don`t you hear, my daughter? Don`t go to glean in another field, neither
pass from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens. [9] Let your eyes be on
the field that they reap, and go after them: haven`t I charged the young
men that they shall not touch you? and when you are thirsty, go to the
vessels, and drink of that which the young men have drawn. [10] Then she
fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said to him, Why
have I found favor in your sight, that you should take knowledge of me,
seeing I am a foreigner? [11] Boaz answered her, It has fully been showed
me, all that you have done to your mother-in-law since the death of your
husband; and how you have left your father and your mother, and the land of
your birth, and have come to a people that you didn`t know before. [12]
Yahweh recompense your work, and a full reward be given you of Yahweh, the
God of Israel, under whose wings you are come to take refuge. [13] Then she
said, Let me find favor in your sight, my lord, because you have comforted
me, and because you have spoken kindly to your handmaid, though I am not as
one of your handmaidens. [14] At meal-time Boaz said to her, Come here, and
eat of the bread, and dip your morsel in the vinegar. She sat beside the
reapers, and they reached her parched grain, and she ate, and was sufficed,
and left of it. [15] When she was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his
young men, saying, Let her glean even among the sheaves, and don`t reproach
her. [16] Also pull out some for her from the bundles, and leave it, and
let her glean, and don`t rebuke her. [17] So she gleaned in the field until
even; and she beat out that which she had gleaned, and it was about an
ephah of barley. [18] She took it up, and went into the city; and her
mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned: and she brought forth and gave to
her that which she had left after she was sufficed. [19] Her mother-in-law
said to her, Where have you gleaned today? and where have you worked?
blessed be he who did take knowledge of you. She showed her mother-in-law
with whom she had worked, and said, The man`s name with whom I worked today
is Boaz. [20] Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, Blessed be he of Yahweh,
who has not left off 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. [21]
Ruth the Moabitess said, Yes, he said to me, You shall keep fast by my
young men, until they have ended all my harvest. [22] Naomi said to Ruth
her daughter-in-law, It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his
maidens, and that they not meet you in any other field. [23] So she kept
fast by the maidens of Boaz, to glean to the end of barley harvest and of
wheat harvest; and she lived with her mother-in-law.
