Ruth 2:1-23
2 Now Naʹo·mi had a kinsman*+ of her husband, a man mighty in wealth,+ of the family of E·limʹe·lech, and his name was Boʹaz.*+
2 In time Ruth the Moʹab·ite woman said to Naʹo·mi: “Let me go, please, to the field and glean+ among the ears of grain following after whoever it is in whose eyes I may find favor.” So she said to her: “Go, my daughter.”
3 At that she went off and entered and began to glean in the field behind the harvesters.+ Thus by chance she lighted on the tract of the field belonging to Boʹaz,+ who was of the family of E·limʹe·lech.+
4 And, look! Boʹaz came from Bethʹle·hem and proceeded to say to the harvesters: “Jehovah be with YOU.”+ In turn they would say to him: “Jehovah bless you.”+
5 Subsequently Boʹaz+ said to the young man who was set over the harvesters: “To whom does this young woman belong?”
6 So the young man set over the harvesters answered and said: “The young woman is a Moʹab·i·tess,+ who returned with Naʹo·mi from the field of Moʹab.+
7 Then she said, ‘Let me glean,+ please, and I shall certainly gather among the cut-off ears of grain behind the harvesters.’ So she entered and kept on her feet from that time in the morning until her sitting down just now in the house a little while.”+
8 Later Boʹaz said to Ruth: “You have heard, have you not, my daughter? Do not go away to glean in another field,+ and you must also not cross over from this place, and in that way you should keep close by my young women.+
9 Let your eyes be on the field that they will harvest, and you must go with them. Have I not commanded the young men not to touch+ you? When you are thirsty, you must also go to the vessels and drink from what the young men will draw.”+
10 At that she fell upon her face and bowed down to the earth+ and said to him: “How is it I have found favor in your eyes so that I am taken notice of, when I am a foreigner?”+
11 Then Boʹaz answered and said to her: “The report+ was fully made to me of all that you have done to your mother-in-law after the death of your husband,+ and how you proceeded to leave your father and your mother and the land of your relatives and to go to a people whom you had not known formerly.+
12 May Jehovah reward the way you act,+ and may there come to be a perfect wage+ for you from Jehovah the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge.”+
13 To this she said: “Let me find favor in your eyes, my lord, because you have comforted me and because you have spoken reassuringly to* your maidservant,+ although I myself may not happen to be like one of your maidservants.”+
14 And Boʹaz proceeded to say to her at mealtime: “Approach here, and you must eat some of the bread+ and dip your piece in the vinegar.” So she sat down beside the harvesters, and he would hold out roasted grain+ to her and she would eat, so that she was satisfied and yet had something left over.
15 Then she got up to glean.+ Boʹaz now commanded his young men, saying: “Let her glean also among the cut-off ears of grain, and YOU must not molest+ her.
16 And YOU should also be sure to pull out some from the bundles of ears for her, and YOU must leave them behind that she may glean them,+ and YOU must not rebuke her.”
17 And she continued to glean in the field until the evening,+ after which she beat out+ what she had gleaned, and it came to be about an eʹphah*+ of barley.
18 Then she took it up and went into the city, and her mother-in-law got to see* what she had gleaned. After that she took out what food she had left over+ when she had satisfied herself and gave it to her.
19 Her mother-in-law now said to her: “Where did you glean today, and where did you work? May the one who took notice of you become blessed.”+ So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked; and she went on to say: “The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boʹaz.”
20 At that Naʹo·mi said to her daughter-in-law: “Blessed be he of Jehovah,+ who has not left his loving-kindness+ toward the living and the dead.”+ And Naʹo·mi went on to say to her: “The man is related to us.+ He is one of our repurchasers.”*+
21 Then Ruth the Moʹab·i·tess said: “He also said to me, ‘Close by the young people that are mine is where you should keep until they have finished the entire harvest that I have.’”+
22 So Naʹo·mi+ said to Ruth her daughter-in-law:+ “It is better, my daughter, that you should go out with his young women, that they may not annoy you in another field.”+
23 And she continued to keep close by the young women of Boʹaz to glean until the harvest of the barley+ and the harvest of the wheat came to an end. And she kept on dwelling with her mother-in-law.+
Footnotes
^ Possibly meaning “In Strength.”
^ Or, “acquaintance.”
^ Lit., “spoken to the heart of.”
^ About 22 L (20 dry qt).
^ “And her mother-in-law got to see,” MLXX; SyVg, “and showed her mother-in-law.”
^ Or, “one of our kinsmen with the right to repurchase (redeem).” Heb., mig·go·ʼaleʹnu, sing.; pl. in several Heb. mss.
