Ruth
Chapter 1
1 Now it happened in the days of the ruling of the judges that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man from Bethlehem of Judah went to live in the fields of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. 2 And the name of the man was Elimelek, and the name of his wife was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. All of them were Ephrathites from Bethlehem of Judah. So they traveled to the fields of Moab and lived there.
3 Then Elimelek, the husband of Naomi, died. And she was left, her and her two sons. 4 And they took wives for themselves from the women of Moab; the name of the first woman was Orpah, and the name of the second woman was Ruth. And they lived there for about ten years. 5 And the two of them, Mahlon and Kilion, also died, and the woman was left without her two children or her husband.
6 Then she and her daughters-in-law arose to return from the fields of Moab, for she had heard in a field of Moab that Yahweh had visited his people, giving them bread. 7 So she went out from the place where she had been living, and her two daughters-in-law were with her. And they traveled down the road to return to the land of Judah.
8 Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return, each woman to the house of her mother. May Yahweh act with you in covenant faithfulness as you have acted with the dead and with me. 9 May Yahweh grant to you that you shall find rest, each woman in the house of her husband.” Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and cried.
10 But they said to her, “Rather, we will return with you to your people.”
11 But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters! Why would you go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb, that they may become husbands for you? 12 Turn back, my daughters, go! For I am too old to belong to a husband. If I said I have hope, and if I belonged to a husband even tonight, and even if I would give birth to sons, 13 would you therefore wait until the time when they are grown? Would you for this reason keep yourselves from belonging to a husband? No, my daughters! For it is exceedingly bitter for me, more than for you, that the hand of Yahweh has gone out against me.”
14 Then they lifted up their voices and cried again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.
15 Then she said, “Look, your sister-in-law has turned back to her people and to her gods. Go back after your sister-in-law.”
16 But Ruth said, “Do not press me to forsake you or to turn back from following you. For I will go to the place where you go, and I will stay in the place where you stay. Your people are my people, and your God is my God. 17 In the place where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May Yahweh do thus to me, and thus may he add, if death separates between me and between you.”
18 Then she saw that she was determined to go with her, and she refrained from speaking to her.
19 So the two of them traveled until they came to Bethlehem. And it happened that, as soon as they came to Bethlehem, the entire town was very excited on account of them. And the women said, “Is this Naomi?”
20 But she said to them, “Do not call me Naomi. Call me Mara, for the Almighty has acted exceedingly bitterly to me. 21 As for me, I went out full, but Yahweh has brought me back empty. Why would you call me Naomi? But as for Yahweh, he has testified against me, and the Almighty has done evil to me.”
22 So Naomi returned, with Ruth the Moabite woman her daughter-in-law, with her, the woman who returned from the fields of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the harvest of barley.
Chapter 2
1 Now Naomi had a relative of her husband, a man of great worth from the clan of Elimelek. And his name was Boaz. [1]
2 And Ruth, the Moabite woman, said to Naomi, “Please, I want to go to the field and glean heads of grain after the one in whose eyes I find favor.”
And she said to her, “Go, my daughter.”
3 So she left and went to glean in the field after the reapers. And by chance, she came to the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek.
4 Then behold, Boaz coming from Bethlehem! And he said to the reapers, “Yahweh be with you.”
And they said to him, “May Yahweh bless you.”
5 Then Boaz said to his servant who was set over the reapers, “Who does this young woman belong to?”
6 Then the servant who was set over the reapers answered and said, “She is a young Moabite woman, the woman who came back with Naomi from the land of Moab. 7 And she said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the bundles of grain after the reapers.’ And she came and has continued from then, in the morning, until now. This is her resting in the house a little.” [2]
8 Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Will you not listen to me, my daughter? Do not go to glean in another field, and do not even go away from here. But do this: stick closely to my young female workers. 9 Keep your eyes on the field where they are reaping and follow behind them. Have I not instructed the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the waterpots and drink from what the young men draw.”
10 Then she fell on her face and bowed down to the ground and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your eyes that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?”
11 Then Boaz answered and said to her, “Everything that you have done with your mother-in-law after the death of your husband has been fully reported to me. You left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and you came to a people whom you did not know the day before yesterday. 12 May Yahweh reward your work, and may your full wages come from Yahweh, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge.”
13 Then she said, “May I find favor in your eyes, my lord, since you have comforted me, and since you have spoken to the heart of your female servant. But as for me, I am not even like one of your female servants.”
14 Then, at the time of the meal, Boaz said to her, “Come here, and eat from the bread, and dip your piece in the vinegar.” So she sat beside the reapers, and he offered to her some roasted grain. And she ate, and she was satisfied, and she had some left over. 15 Then she got up to glean. Then Boaz commanded his young men, saying, “Let her glean even among the bundles, and do not shame her. 16 Even be sure to pull some out from the bundles for her and leave it for her to glean, and do not rebuke her!”
17 So she gleaned in the field until the evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley. 18 And she lifted it up and went into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. Then she took out what she had left over after she was satisfied, and she gave it to her.
19 Then her mother-in-law said to her, “Where did you glean today, and where did you work? May the one who noticed you be blessed.”
Then she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked. And she said, “The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz.”
20 Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by Yahweh, who has not forsaken his covenant faithfulness both with the living and with the dead.” Naomi also said to her, “That man is closely related to us. He is one of our kinsman-redeemers.”
21 Then Ruth the Moabite woman said, “In addition, he said to me, ‘You should keep close by the servants who belong to me until the time when they have finished all of the harvest that belongs to me.’”
22 Then Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young female workers, so that they do not harm you in any other field.”
23 So she stayed close by the young female workers of Boaz to glean until the harvest of barley and the harvest of wheat were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.
Chapter 3
1 Then Naomi, her mother-in-law, said to her, “My daughter, should I not seek a resting place for you, that will be good for you? 2 So now, is not Boaz our relative, the one with whose young female workers you have been working? Look, he will be winnowing barley at the threshing floor tonight. 3 Now wash yourself, and anoint yourself, and put on your cloak, and go down to the threshing floor. Do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. [1] 4 And let it be that when he lies down, you know the exact place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet, and lie down. Then he, himself, will tell you what you should do.”
5 And she said to her, “Everything that you say, I will do.”
6 So she went down to the threshing floor and did according to everything that her mother-in-law had instructed her. 7 And Boaz ate and drank, and his heart was good, and he went to lie down at the end of the pile of grain. Then she came secretly, and uncovered his feet, and lay down. 8 Then it happened in the middle of the night that the man was startled and turned over. And behold, a woman was lying at his feet!
9 And he said, “Who are you?”
Then she said, “I am Ruth, your female servant. And you can spread the edge of your cloak over your female servant, for you are a kinsman-redeemer.”
10 Then he said, “Blessed be you by Yahweh, my daughter! You have made your covenant faithfulness better at the end than at the beginning by not going after the young men, either poor or rich. 11 So now, my daughter, do not be afraid! Everything that you say, I will do for you; for the whole gate of my people knows that you are a woman of worth. 12 And now, it is indeed true that I am a kinsman-redeemer, but there is a kinsman-redeemer even nearer than I. 13 Stay here tonight. And when it is morning, if he will redeem you, good, let him redeem you. But if he does not want to redeem you, then I will redeem you myself, as Yahweh lives. Lie down until morning.”
14 So she lay at his feet until the morning, but she got up before a man could recognize his friend. And he said, “Do not let it be known that the woman came to the threshing floor.”
15 Then he said, “Bring the cloak that is on you, and hold it.” So she held it. And he measured six measures of barley and put it on her. Then he went into the city. [2]
16 Then she came to her mother-in-law, and she said, “Who are you, my daughter?” Then she told her everything that the man had done for her.
17 And she said, “He gave to me these six measures of barley, for he said, ‘You must not go empty to your mother-in-law.’”
18 Then she said, “Sit, my daughter, until the time when you know how the matter falls. For the man will not rest unless he has finished this matter today.”
Chapter 4
1 Now Boaz had gone up to the gate and sat down there. And behold, the kinsman-redeemer was passing by, the same man about whom Boaz had spoken earlier. And he said, “Turn aside and sit down here, a certain someone.” So he turned aside and sat down. 2 Then he took ten men from the elders of the city and said, “Sit down here.” So they sat down.
3 Then he said to the kinsman-redeemer, “Naomi, the woman who has returned from the fields of Moab, is selling the portion of the field that belonged to our brother Elimelek. 4 Now as for me, I said that I should uncover your ear, saying, ‘Buy it,’ in the presence of those who are sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if you will not redeem it, then tell me so that I may know, for there is no one to redeem it besides you, and I am after you.”
Then he said, “I will redeem it myself.” [1][2]
5 Then Boaz said, “On the day that you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite woman, the wife of the dead man, in order to raise up the name of the dead over his inheritance.” [3]
6 Then the kinsman-redeemer said, “I am not able to redeem it for myself without damaging my own inheritance. You redeem for yourself my right of redemption, for I am not able to redeem it.” 7 Now, in earlier times in Israel, this is how any matter was confirmed concerning redemption and concerning the exchange of goods: a man took off his sandal and gave it to his friend. So this was the form of legal agreement in Israel. 8 So the kinsman-redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself,” and he took off his sandal.
9 Then Boaz said to the elders and to all the people, “You are witnesses today that I am buying from the hand of Naomi everything that belonged to Elimelek and everything that belonged to Kilion and Mahlon. 10 And Ruth, the Moabite woman, the widow of Mahlon, I am also acquiring as my wife, in order to raise up the name of the dead man over his inheritance, so that the name of the dead man will not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his place. Today you are witnesses!”
11 And all the people who were in the gate and the elders said, “We are witnesses. May Yahweh make this woman who is coming into your house like Rachel and Leah, the two who built up the house of Israel. Achieve honor in Ephrathah, and be renowned in Bethlehem! 12 And may your house become like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, from the offspring that Yahweh gives you from this young woman.”
13 So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife, and he went in to her. Then Yahweh gave her conception, and she bore a son.
14 Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be Yahweh, who has not left you today without a kinsman-redeemer. May his name be renowned in Israel! 15 Now he will be for you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you, has borne him—she who is better to you than seven sons.”
16 And Naomi took the child and put him on her lap, and she became his nurse. 17 So the neighbor women called out a name for him, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi.” And they called his name Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
18 Now these are the generations of Perez: Perez fathered Hezron; 19 and Hezron fathered Ram; and Ram fathered Amminadab; 20 and Amminadab fathered Nahshon; and Nahshon fathered Salmon; 21 and Salmon fathered Boaz; and Boaz fathered Obed; 22 and Obed fathered Jesse; and Jesse fathered David.