Ruth 1–4

NAOMI’S FAMILY IN MOAB

1During the time^A of the judges,^a there was a famine in the land.^b A man left Bethlehem^c in Judah with his wife and two sons to stay in the territory of Moab for a while. ²The man’s name was Elimelech, and his wife’s name was Naomi.^B The names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites^d from Bethlehem in Judah. They entered the fields of Moab and settled there. ³Naomi’s husband, Elimelech, died, and she was left with her two sons. ⁴Her sons took Moabite women as their wives: one was named Orpah and the second was named Ruth. After they lived in Moab about ten years, ⁵both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and the woman was left without her two children and without her husband.

RUTH’S LOYALTY TO NAOMI

⁶She and her daughters-in-law set out to return from the territory of Moab, because she had heard in Moab that the Lord had paid attention to his people’s need by providing them food.^{e 7}She left the place where she had been living, accompanied by her two daughters-in-law, and traveled along the road leading back to the land of Judah.

⁸Naomi said to them, “Each of you go back to your mother’s home.^f May the Lord show kindness to you as you have shown to the dead and to me. ⁹May the Lord grant each of you rest^g in the house of a new husband.” She kissed them, and they wept loudly.

¹⁰They said to her, “We insist on returning with you to your people.”

¹¹But Naomi replied, “Return home, my daughters. Why do you want to go with me? Am I able to have any more sons who could become your husbands?^{h 12}Return home, my daughters. Go on, for I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me to have a husband tonight and to bear sons, ¹³would you be willing to wait for them to grow up? Would you restrain yourselves from remarrying?^C No, my daughters, my life is much too bitter for you to share,^D because the Lord’s hand has turned against me.”^{i 14}Again they wept loudly, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. ¹⁵Naomi said, “Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods.^j Follow your sister-in-law.”

¹⁶But Ruth replied:

Don’t plead with me to abandon you

or to return and not follow you.

For wherever you go, I will go,

and wherever you live, I will live;

your people will be my people,

and your God will be my God.

¹⁷Where you die, I will die,

and there I will be buried.

May the Lord punish me,^k

and do so severely,

if anything but death separates you and me.

¹⁸When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped talking to her.

¹⁹The two of them traveled until they came to Bethlehem. When they entered Bethlehem, the whole town was excited about their arrival^Al and the local women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”

²⁰“Don’t call me Naomi. Call me Mara,”^B she answered, “for the Almighty^m has made me very bitter.^{n 21}I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty.^o Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has opposed^C me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?”

²²So Naomi came back from the territory of Moab with her daughter-in-law Ruth the Moabitess. They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.^p

RUTH AND BOAZ MEET

2Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side. He was a prominent man of noble character^q from Elimelech’s family. His name was Boaz.

²Ruth the Moabitess asked Naomi, “Will you let me go into the fields and gather fallen grain^r behind someone with whom I find favor?”

Naomi answered her, “Go ahead, my daughter.” ³So Ruth left and entered the field to gather grain behind the harvesters. She happened^a to be in the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was from Elimelech’s family.

⁴Later, when Boaz arrived from Bethlehem, he said to the harvesters, “The Lord be with you.”^b

“The Lord bless you,”^c they replied.

⁵Boaz asked his servant who was in charge of the harvesters, “Whose young woman is this?”

⁶The servant answered, “She is the young Moabite woman who returned with Naomi from the territory of Moab. ⁷She asked, ‘Will you let me gather fallen grain among the bundles behind the harvesters?’ She came and has been on her feet since early morning, except that she rested a little in the shelter.”^D

⁸Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter.^E Don’t go and gather grain in another field, and don’t leave this one, but stay here close to my female servants. ⁹See which field they are harvesting, and follow them. Haven’t I ordered the young men not to touch you? When you are thirsty, go and drink from the jars the young men have filled.”

¹⁰She fell facedown, bowed to the ground,^d and said to him, “Why have I found favor with you, so that you notice me, although I am a foreigner?”

¹¹Boaz answered her, “Everything you have done for your mother-in-law since your husband’s death has been fully reported to me: how you left your father and mother and your native land, and how you came to a people you didn’t previously know. ¹²May the Lord reward you for what you have done,^e and may you receive a full reward from the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge.”^f

¹³“My lord,” she said, “I have found favor with you, for you have comforted and encouraged your servant, although I am not like one of your female servants.”

¹⁴At mealtime Boaz told her, “Come over here and have some bread and dip it in the vinegar sauce.” So she sat beside the harvesters, and he offered her roasted grain. She ate and was satisfied and had some left over.

¹⁵When she got up to gather grain, Boaz ordered his young men, “Let her even gather grain among the bundles, and don’t humiliate her. ¹⁶Pull out some stalks from the bundles for her and leave them for her to gather. Don’t rebuke her.” ¹⁷So Ruth gathered grain in the field until evening. She beat out what she had gathered, and it was about twenty-six quarts^A of barley. ¹⁸She picked up the grain and went into the town, where her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She brought out what she had left over from her meal and gave it to her.

¹⁹Her mother-in-law said to her, “Where did you gather barley today, and where did you work? May the Lord bless the man who noticed you.”^g

Ruth told her mother-in-law whom she had worked with and said, “The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz.”

²⁰Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May the Lord^h bless him because he has not abandoned his kindness to the living or the dead.”ⁱ Naomi continued, “The man is a close relative. He is one of our family redeemers.”^j

²¹Ruth the Moabitess said, “He also told me, ‘Stay with my young men until they have finished all of my harvest.’ ”

²²So Naomi said to her daughter-in-law Ruth, “My daughter, it is good for you to work^B with his female servants, so that nothing will happen to you in another field.” ²³Ruth stayed close to Boaz’s female servants and gathered grain until the barley and the wheat harvests were finished.^k And she lived with^C her mother-in-law.

RUTH’S APPEAL TO BOAZ

3Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi said to her, “My daughter, shouldn’t I find rest for you, so that you will be taken care of? ²Now isn’t Boaz our relative?^l Haven’t you been working with his female servants? This evening he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. ³Wash, put on perfumed oil, and wear your best clothes. Go down to the threshing floor, but don’t let the man know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. ⁴When he lies down, notice the place where he’s lying, go in and uncover his feet, and lie down. Then he will explain to you what you should do.”

⁵So Ruth said to her, “I will do everything you say.”^{D 6}She went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law had charged her to do. ⁷After Boaz ate, drank, and was in good spirits, he went to lie down at the end of the pile of barley, and she came secretly, uncovered his feet, and lay down.

⁸At midnight, Boaz was startled, turned over, and there lying at his feet was a woman! ⁹So he asked, “Who are you?”

“I am Ruth, your servant,” she replied. “Take me under your wing,^a for you are a family redeemer.”^b

¹⁰Then he said, “May the Lord bless you,^c my daughter. You have shown more kindness now than before,^B because you have not pursued younger men, whether rich or poor. ¹¹Now don’t be afraid, my daughter. I will do for you whatever you say,^C since all the people in my town^D know that you are a woman of noble character.^{d 12}Yes, it is true that I am a family redeemer, but there is a redeemer closer than I am. ¹³Stay here tonight, and in the morning, if he wants to redeem you, that’s good.^e Let him redeem you. But if he doesn’t want to redeem you, as the Lord lives,^f I will. Now lie down until morning.”

¹⁴So she lay down at his feet until morning but got up while it was still dark.^E Then Boaz said, “Don’t let it be known that a^F woman came to the threshing floor.” ¹⁵And he told Ruth, “Bring the shawl you’re wearing and hold it out.” When she held it out, he shoveled six measures of barley into her shawl, and she^G went into the town.

¹⁶She went to her mother-in-law, Naomi, who asked her, “What happened,^H my daughter?”

Then Ruth told her everything the man had done for her. ¹⁷She said, “He gave me these six measures of barley, because he said,^I ‘Don’t go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’ ”

¹⁸Naomi said, “My daughter, wait until you find out how things go, for he won’t rest unless he resolves this today.”

RUTH AND BOAZ MARRY

4Boaz went to the gate of the town^g and sat down there. Soon the family redeemer Boaz had spoken about came by. Boaz said, “Come over here^J and sit down.” So he went over and sat down. ²Then Boaz took ten men of the town’s elders^h and said, “Sit here.” And they sat down. ³He said to the redeemer, “Naomi, who has returned from the territory of Moab, is selling the portion of the field that belonged to our brother Elimelech.^{i 4}I thought I should inform you: Buy it back in the presence of those seated here and…