Rut 2

¹ And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of valour, of the family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz. ² And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi: "Let me now go to the field, and glean among the ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find favour." And she said unto her: "Go, my daughter." ³ And she went, and came and gleaned in the field after the reapers; and her hap was to light on the portion of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech. ⁴ And, behold, Boaz came from Beth-lehem, and said unto the reapers: "The LORD be with you." And they answered him: "The LORD bless thee." ⁵ Then said Boaz unto his servant that was set over the reapers: "Whose damsel is this?" ⁶ And the servant that was set over the reapers answered and said: "It is a Moabitish damsel that came back with Naomi out of the field of Moab; ⁷ and she said: Let me glean, I pray you, and gather after the reapers among the sheaves; so she came, and hath continued even from the morning until now, save that she tarried a little in the house." ⁸ Then said Boaz unto Ruth: "Hearest thou not, my daughter? Go not to glean in another field, neither pass from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens. ⁹ Let thine eyes be on the field that they do reap, and go thou after them; have I not charged the young men that they shall not touch thee? and when thou art athirst, go unto the vessels, and drink of that which the young men have drawn." ¹⁰ Then she fell on her face, and bowed down to the ground, and said unto him: "Why have I found favour in thy sight, that thou shouldest take cognizance of me, seeing I am a foreigner?" ¹¹ And Boaz answered and said unto her: "It hath fully been told me, all that thou hast done unto thy mother-in-law since the death of thy husband; and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people that thou knewest not heretofore. ¹² The LORD recompense thy work, and be thy reward complete from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to take refuge." ¹³ Then she said: "Let me find favour in thy sight, my LORD; for that thou hast comforted me, and for that thou hast spoken to the heart of thy handmaid, though I be not as one of thy handmaidens." ¹⁴ And Boaz said unto her at meal-time: "Come hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar." And she sat beside the reapers; and they reached her parched corn, and she did eat and was satisfied, and left thereof. ¹⁵ And when she was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying: "Let her glean even among the sheaves, and put her not to shame. ¹⁶ And also pull out some for her of purpose from the bundles, and leave it, and let her glean, and rebuke her not." 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 And 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 satisfied. ¹⁹ And her mother-in-law said unto her: "Where hast thou gleaned to-day? and where wroughtest thou? blessed be he that did take knowledge of thee." And she told her mother-in-law with whom she had wrought, and said: "The man's name with whom I wrought to-day is Boaz." ²⁰ And Naomi said unto her daughter-in-law: "Blessed be he of the LORD, who hath not left off His kindness to the living and to the dead." And Naomi said unto her: "The man is nigh of kin unto us, one of our near kinsmen." ²¹ And Ruth the Moabitess said: "Yea, he said unto me: Thou shalt keep fast by my young men, until they have ended all my harvest." ²² And Naomi said unto Ruth her daughter-in-law: "It is good, my daughter, that thou go out with his maidens, and that thou be not met in any other field." ²³ So she kept fast by the maidens of Boaz to glean unto the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest; and she dwelt with her mother-in-law.