Ruth 2:8–16

⁸Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter. Don’t go to gather grain for yourself in another field. Don’t even leave this field at all, but continue following closely behind my women workers. ⁹Watch to see into which fields they go to cut grain and follow them. I have warned the young men not to bother you. When you are thirsty, you may go and drink from the water jugs that the young men have filled.”

¹⁰Then Ruth bowed low with her face to the ground and said to him, “I am not an Israelite. Why have you been so kind to notice me?”

¹¹Boaz answered her, “I know about all the help you have given your mother-in-law after your husband died. You left your father and mother and your own country to come to a nation where you did not know anyone. ¹²May the Lord reward you for all you have done. May your wages be paid in full by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for shelter.”

¹³Then Ruth said, “I hope I can continue to please you, sir. You have said kind and encouraging words to me, your servant, though I am not one of your servants.”

¹⁴At mealtime Boaz told Ruth, “Come here. Eat some of our bread and dip it in our sauce.”

So Ruth sat down beside the workers. Boaz handed her some roasted grain, and she ate until she was full; she even had some food left over. ¹⁵When Ruth rose and went back to work, Boaz commanded his workers, “Let her gather even around the piles of cut grain. Don’t tell her to go away. ¹⁶In fact, drop some full heads of grain for her from what you have in your hands, and let her gather them. Don’t tell her to stop.”