22Thus Naomi returned from the country of Moab; she returned with her daughter-in-law Ruth the Moabite. They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.
2 Now Naomi had a kinsman on her husband’s side, a man of substance, of the family of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz.
2Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “I would like to go to the fields and glean among the ears of grain, behind someone who may show me kindness.” “Yes, daughter, go,” she replied; 3and off she went. She came and gleaned in a field, behind the reapers; and, as luck would have it, it was the piece of land belonging to Boaz, who was of Elimelech’s family.
4Presently Boaz arrived from Bethlehem. He greeted the reapers, “The LORD be with you!” And they responded, “The LORD bless you!” 5Boaz said to the servant who was in charge of the reapers, “Whose girl is that?” 6The servant in charge of the reapers replied, “She is a Moabite girl who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab. 7She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the reapers.” She has been on her feet ever since she came this morning. a-She has rested but little in the hut.”-a
8Boaz said to Ruth, b-“Listen to me, daughter.-b Don’t go to glean in another field. Don’t go elsewhere, but stay here close to my girls. 9Keep your eyes on the field they are reaping, and follow them. I have ordered the men not to molest you. And when you are thirsty, go to the jars and drink some of [the water] that the men have drawn.”
10She prostrated herself with her face to the ground, and said to him, “Why are you so kind as to single me out, when I am a foreigner?”
11Boaz said in reply, “I have been told of all that you did for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband, how you left your father and mother and the land of your birth and came to a people you had not known before. 12May the LORD reward your deeds. May you have a full recompense from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have sought refuge!”
13She answered, “You are most kind, my lord, to comfort me and to speak gently to your maidservant—though I am not so much as one of your maidservants.”
14At mealtime, Boaz said to her, “Come over here and partake of the meal, and dip your morsel in the vinegar.” So she sat down beside the reapers. He handed her roasted grain, and she ate her fill and had some left over.
15When she got up again to glean, Boaz gave orders to his workers, “You are not only to let her glean among the sheaves, without interference, 16but you must also pull some [stalks] out of the heaps and leave them for her to glean, and not scold her.”
17She gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned—it was about an ephah of barley—18and carried it back with her to the town. When her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned, and when she also took out and gave her what she had left over after eating her fill, 19her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be he who took such generous notice of you!” So she told her mother-in-law whom she had worked with, saying, “The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz.”
20Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “Blessed be he of the LORD, who has not failed in His kindness to the living or to the dead! For,” Naomi explained to her daughter-in-law, “the man is related to us; he is one of our redeeming kinsmen.”c 21Ruth the Moabite said, “He even told me, ‘Stay close by my workers until all my harvest is finished.’ ” 22And Naomi answered her daughter-in-law Ruth, “It is best, daughter, that you go out with his girls, and not be annoyed in some other field.” 23So she stayed close to the maidservants of Boaz, and gleaned until the barley harvest and the wheat harvest were finished. Then she stayed at home with her mother-in-law.
3 Naomi, her mother-in-law, said to her, “Daughter, I must seek a home for you, where you may be happy. 2Now there is our kinsman Boaz, whose girls you were close to. He will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor tonight. 3So bathe, anoint yourself, dress up, and go down to the threshing floor. But do not disclose yourself to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. 4When he lies down, note the place where he lies down, and go over and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what you are to do.” 5She replied, “I will do everything you tell me.”
6She went down to the threshing floor and did just as her mother-in-law had instructed her. 7Boaz ate and drank, and in a cheerful mood went to lie down beside the grainpile. Then she went over stealthily and un-covered his feet and lay down. 8In the middle of the night, the man gave a start and pulled back—there was a woman lying at his feet!
9“Who are you?” he asked. And she replied, “I am your handmaid Ruth. a-Spread your robe over your handmaid,-a for you are a redeeming kinsman.”
10He exclaimed, “Be blessed of the LORD, daughter! Your latest deed of loyalty is greater than the first, in that you have not turned to younger men, whether poor or rich.b 11And now, daughter, have no fear. I will do in your behalf whatever you ask, for all the c-elders of my town-c know what a fine woman you are. 12But while it is true I am a redeeming kinsman, there is another redeemer closer than I. 13Stay for the night. Then in the morning, if he will act as a redeemer, good! let him redeem. But if he does not want to act as redeemer for you, I will do so myself, as the LORD lives! Lie down until morning.”
14So she lay at his feet until dawn. She rose before one person could distinguish another, for he thought, “Let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor.” 15And he said, “Hold out the shawl you are wearing.” She held it while he measured out six measures of barley, and he put it on her back.
When shed got back to the town, 16she came to her mother-in-law, who asked, “How is it with you, daughter?” She told her all that the man had done for her; 17and she added, “He gave me these six measures of barley, saying to me, ‘Do not go back to your mother-in-law emptyhanded.’ ” 18And Naomi said, “Stay here, daughter, till you learn how the matter turns out. For the man will not rest, but will settle the matter today.”
4 Meanwhile, Boaz had gone to the gate and sat down there. And now the redeemer whom Boaz had mentioned passed by. He called, “Come over and sit down here, So-and-so!” And he came over and sat down. 2Then [Boaz] took ten elders of the town and said, “Be seated here”; and they sat down.
3He said to the redeemer, “Naomi, now returned from the country of Moab, must sell the piece of land which belonged to our kinsman Elimelech. 4I thought I should disclose the matter to you and say: Acquire it in the presence of those seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you are willing to redeem it, redeem! But if youa will not redeem, tell me, that I may know. For there is no one to redeem but you, and I come after you.” “I am willing to redeem it,” he replied. 5Boaz continued, “When you acquire the property from Naomi b-and from Ruth the Moabite, you must also acquire the wife of the deceased,-b so as to perpetuate the name of the deceased upon his estate.” 6The redeemer replied, “Then I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own estate.c You take over my right of redemption, for I am unable to exercise it.”
7Now this was formerly done in Israel in cases of redemption or ex-change: to validate any transaction, one man would take off his sandal and hand it to the other. Such was the practiced in Israel. 8So when the redeemer said to Boaz, “Acquire for yourself,” he drew off his sandal. 9And Boaz said to the elders and to the rest of the people, “You are witnesses today that I am acquiring from Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and Mahlon. 10I am also acquiring Ruth the Moabite, the wife of Mahlon, as my wife, so as to perpetuate the name of the deceased upon his estate, that the name of the deceased may not disappear from among his kinsmen and from the gate of his home town. You are witnesses today.”
11All the people at the gate and the elders answered, “We are. May the LORD make the woman who is coming into your house like Rachel and Leah, both of whom built up the House of Israel! Prosper in Ephrathahe and perpetuate your name
