Ruth 2:1-23

2  And Naʽomi had a relative of her husband’s, a stalwart man of Elimelec’s clan, named Boʽaz. 2  And Ruth the Moabite said to Naʽomi “Let me go to the field and glean ears of the grain behind whoever is kind to me”; and she told her “Go, daughter. 3  And she went off and came and gleaned in the field behind the reapers, and she happened into the section of the field that belonged to Boʽaz, who was of Elimelec’s clan, 4  and there came Boʽaz out of Bethlehem and said to the reapers “Jehovah be with you,” and they said to him “Jehovah bless you.” 5  And Boʽaz said to his man who was superintending the reapers “Whose is this girl?” 6  and the man superintending the reapers answered “That is a Moabite girl, the one that came back with Naʽomi out of Moab; 7 * and she said ‘Let me glean and pick up among the shocks behind the reapers,’ and she came and has been on her feet ever since it was daylight till right now; her sitting down in the house has been only a little.” 8  And Boʽaz said to Ruth “Do you hear, daughter? do not go gleaning in another field, and do not cross over out of this; stick here by my girls; 9  keep your eyes on the field they are reaping and follow them—the boys have my orders not to touch you; and when you are thirsty go to the jars and take a drink out of what the boys draw.” 10  And she threw herself down on her face and did reverence on the ground, and said to him “How comes it you are kind enough to notice me when I am a foreigner?” 11  And Boʽaz answered “I have been told all about what you did for your mother-in-law after your husband’s death and how you left your father and mother and your native country and went to a people you had not known before. 12  May Jehovah requite your actions, and your reward be thorough from Israel’s God Jehovah under whose wings you have come to take shelter.” 13  And she said “Thank you, sir, for cheering me up and speaking kindly to your servant, when I am not the like of one of your slave-girls.” 14  And Boʽaz said to her at eating-time “Come here and have some of the bread and dip your piece in the sauce”; and she sat down beside the reapers, and he passed her roasted grain, and she ate till she had all she wanted, and left some over. 15  And she stood up to glean, and Boʽaz gave the men the order “She is to glean right in between the shocks and you are not to snub her; and, too, 16  you are to pull some out of the armfuls and leave it for her, and she is to glean and you are not to scold her.” 17  And she gleaned in the field till evening; and she beat out what she had gleaned, and it came to about a bushel 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 took out and gave to her what she had had left over from eating all she wanted. 19  And her mother-in-law said to her “Where did you glean today? on which side did you work? may the one who took notice of you be blessed.” And she told her mother-in-law the one with whom she had worked, and said “The name of the man I worked with today is Boʽaz.” 20  And Naʽomi said to her daughter-in-law “Blessed be he of Jehovah, that he has never left off his friendliness with the living and with the dead.” And Naʽomi said to her “The man is a near relative to us, one of our immediate family.” 21  And Ruth the Moabite said “Another thing: he said to me ‘You are to stick by my boys till they finish reaping all of the field that is mine.’” 22  And Naʽomi said to her daughter-in-law Ruth “It is best, daughter, that you go out with his girls and they do not encounter you in another field.” 23  And she stuck by Boʽaz’s girls, gleaning till the barley harvest and the wheat harvest were finished; and she stayed with her mother-in-law.

Footnotes

2:7 Var. till now; she has not left off being in the field the least bit.” Var. till now; she has not gone home for a moment.”
2:18 Var.* And she showed her mother-in-law what she had gleaned, and took out