Ruth Meets Boaz

1And Naomi hath an acquaintance of her husband’s, a man mighty in wealth, of the family of Elimelech, and his name [is] Boaz. 2And Ruth the Moabitess saith unto Naomi, ‘Let me go, I pray thee, into the field, and I gather among the ears of corn after him in whose eyes I find grace;’ and she saith to her, ‘Go, my daughter.’ 3And she goeth and cometh and gathereth in a field after the reapers, and her chance happeneth — the portion of the field is Boaz’s who [is] of the family of Elimelech. 4And lo, Boaz hath come from Beth-Lehem, and saith to the reapers, ‘Jehovah [is] with you;’ and they say to him, ‘Jehovah doth bless thee.’ 5And Boaz saith to his young man who is set over the reapers, ‘Whose [is] this young person?’ 6And the young man who is set over the reapers answereth and saith, ‘A young woman — Moabitess — she [is], who came back with Naomi from the fields of Moab, 7and she saith, Let me glean, I pray thee — and I have gathered among the sheaves after the reapers; and she cometh and remaineth since the morning and till now; she sat in the house a little.

Boaz Shows Favor to Ruth

8And Boaz saith unto Ruth, ‘Hast thou not heard, my daughter? go not to glean in another field, and also, pass not over from this, and thus thou dost cleave to my young women: 9thine eyes [are] on the field which they reap, and thou hast gone after them; have not I charged the young men not to touch thee? when thou art athirst then thou hast gone unto the vessels, and hast drunk from that which the young men draw.’ 10And she falleth on her face, and boweth herself to the earth, and saith unto him, ‘Wherefore have I found grace in thine eyes, to discern me, and I a stranger?’ 11And Boaz answereth and saith to her, ‘It hath thoroughly been declared to me all that thou hast done with thy mother-in-law, after the death of thy husband, and thou dost leave thy father, and thy mother, and the land of thy birth, and dost come in unto a people which thou hast not known heretofore. 12Jehovah doth recompense thy work, and thy reward is complete from Jehovah, God of Israel, under whose wings thou hast come to take refuge.’ 13And she saith, ‘Let me find grace in thine eyes, my lord, because thou hast comforted me, and because thou hast spoken unto the heart of thy maid-servant, and I — I am not as one of thy maid-servants.’

14And Boaz saith to her, ‘At meal-time come nigh hither, and thou hast eaten of the bread, and dipped thy morsel in the vinegar.’ And she sitteth at the side of the reapers, and he reacheth to her roasted corn, and she eateth, and is satisfied, and leaveth. 15And she riseth to glean, and Boaz chargeth his young men, saying, ‘Even between the sheaves she doth glean, and ye do not cause her to blush; 16and also ye do surely cast to her of the handfuls — and have left, and she hath gleaned, and ye do not push against her.’

17And she gleaneth in the field till the evening, and beateth out that which she hath gleaned, and it is about an ephah of barley; 18and she taketh [it] up, and goeth into the city, and her mother-in-law seeth that which she hath gleaned, and she bringeth out and giveth to her that which she left from her satiety. 19And her mother-in-law saith to her, ‘Where hast thou gleaned to-day? and where hast thou wrought? may he who is discerning thee be blessed.’ And she declareth to her mother-in-law with whom she hath wrought, and saith, ‘The name of the man with whom I have wrought to-day [is] Boaz.’ 20And Naomi saith to her daughter-in-law, ‘Blessed [is] he of Jehovah who hath not forsaken His kindness with the living and with the dead;’ and Naomi saith to her, ‘The man is a relation of ours; he [is] of our redeemers.’ 21And Ruth the Moabitess saith, ‘Also he surely said unto me, Near the young people whom I have thou dost cleave till they have completed the whole of the harvest which I have.’ 22And Naomi saith unto Ruth her daughter-in-law, ‘Good, my daughter, that thou goest out with his young women, and they come not against thee in another field.’ 23And she cleaveth to the young women of Boaz to glean, till the completion of the barley-harvest, and of the wheat-harvest, and she dwelleth with her mother-in-law.