Ruth 3–4

Ruth and Boaz at the Threshing Floor

3One day Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi^q said to her, “My daughter, I must find a home^ar for you, where you will be well provided for. ²Now Boaz, with whose women you have worked, is a relative^s of ours. Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor.^{t 3}Wash,^u put on perfume,^v and get dressed in your best clothes.^w Then go down to the threshing floor, but don’t let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking.^{x 4}When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do.”

⁵“I will do whatever you say,”^y Ruth answered. ⁶So she went down to the threshing floor^z and did everything her mother-in-law told her to do.

⁷When Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits,^a he went over to lie down at the far end of the grain pile.^b Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down. ⁸In the middle of the night something startled the man; he turned—and there was a woman lying at his feet!

⁹“Who are you?” he asked.

“I am your servant Ruth,” she said. “Spread the corner of your garment^c over me, since you are a guardian-redeemer^bd of our family.”

¹⁰“The Lord bless you,^e my daughter,” he replied. “This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier:^f You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor. ¹¹And now, my daughter, don’t be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. All the people of my town know that you are a woman of noble character.^{g 12}Although it is true that I am a guardian-redeemer of our family,^h there is another who is more closely related thanⁱ I. ¹³Stay here for the night, and in the morning if he wants to do his duty as your guardian-redeemer,^j good; let him redeem you. But if he is not willing, as surely as the Lord lives^k I will do it.^l Lie here until morning.”

¹⁴So she lay at his feet until morning, but got up before anyone could be recognized; and he said, “No one must know that a woman came to the threshing floor.^m”ⁿ

¹⁵He also said, “Bring me the shawl^o you are wearing and hold it out.” When she did so, he poured into it six measures of barley and placed the bundle on her. Then he^c went back to town.

¹⁶When Ruth came to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked, “How did it go, my daughter?”

Then she told her everything Boaz had done for her ¹⁷and added, “He gave me these six measures of barley, saying, ‘Don’t go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’ ”

¹⁸Then Naomi said, “Wait, my daughter, until you find out what happens. For the man will not rest until the matter is settled today.”^p

Boaz Marries Ruth

4Meanwhile Boaz went up to the town gate^q and sat down there just as the guardian-redeemer^ar he had mentioned^s came along. Boaz said, “Come over here, my friend, and sit down.” So he went over and sat down.

²Boaz took ten of the elders^t of the town and said, “Sit here,” and they did so.^{u 3}Then he said to the guardian-redeemer, “Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our relative Elimelek.^{v 4}I thought I should bring the matter to your attention and suggest that you buy it in the presence of these seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, do so. But if you^b will not, tell me, so I will know. For no one has the right to do it except you,^w and I am next in line.”

“I will redeem it,” he said.

⁵Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the land from Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite,^x the^c dead man’s widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property.”^y

⁶At this, the guardian-redeemer said, “Then I cannot redeem^z it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it.”^a

⁷(Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption^b and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal^c and gave it to the other. This was the method of legalizing transactions^d in Israel.)^e

⁸So the guardian-redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it yourself.” And he removed his sandal.^f

⁹Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, “Today you are witnesses^g that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelek, Kilion and Mahlon. ¹⁰I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite,^h Mahlon’s widow, as my wife,ⁱ in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from his hometown.^j Today you are witnesses!^k”

¹¹Then the elders and all the people at the gate^l said, “We are witnesses.^m May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah,ⁿ who together built up the family of Israel. May you have standing in Ephrathah^o and be famous in Bethlehem.^{p 12}Through the offspring the Lord gives you by this young woman, may your family be like that of Perez,^q whom Tamar^r bore to Judah.”

Naomi Gains a Son

¹³So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When he made love to her, the Lord enabled her to conceive,^s and she gave birth to a son.^{t 14}The women^u said to Naomi: “Praise be to the Lord,^v who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer.^w May he become famous throughout Israel! ¹⁵He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law,^x who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons,^y has given him birth.”

¹⁶Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him. ¹⁷The women living there said, “Naomi has a son!” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse,^z the father of David.^a

The Genealogy of David

4:18–22pp—1Ch 2:5–15; Mt 1:3–6; Lk 3:31–33

¹⁸This, then, is the family line of Perez^b:

Perez was the father of Hezron,^c

¹⁹Hezron the father of Ram,

Ram the father of Amminadab,^d

²⁰Amminadab the father of Nahshon,^e

Nahshon the father of Salmon,^d

²¹Salmon the father of Boaz,^f

Boaz the father of Obed,

²²Obed the father of Jesse,

and Jesse the father of David.