Ruth 2

1 Now Naomi had an acquaintance of her husband’s; and he was a man of standing and strength, from the family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz. [a] 2 And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go out to the field, and I will gather in among the ears of grain behind any man in whose eyes I find favor.” And she said to her, “Go, my daughter.” 3 And she went, and came and gathered up in the field behind the reapers; and by pure chance she came upon the share of the field that belonged to Boaz, of the family of Elimelech.

4 And there was Boaz, coming from Bethlehem; and he said to the reapers, “The Lord be with you.” And they said to him, “May the Lord bless you.” 5 And Boaz said to his young man who was set over the reapers, “Whose is this young woman?” 6 And the young man who was set over the reapers answered and said, “She is the Moabite girl who came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab. 7 And she said, ‘Let me gather up, and let me gather in among the sheaves behind the reapers.’ And she came and has stood here from early morning until evening; she has not rested in the field even a little.” [b]

8 And Boaz said to Ruth, “Have you not heard, my daughter? Do not go to gather up in another field, and do not go away from here; join yourself here with my young women. 9 Keep your eyes on the field where they are reaping, and go along behind them. See, I have ordered the young men not to touch you. And whenever you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men draw.” 10 And 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 take notice of me — and I am a foreign woman?”

11 And Boaz answered and said to her, “It has been told me, and fully told me, all that you have done for your mother-in-law since your husband died — how you left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and came to a people you did not know before. 12 May the Lord pay you back for your work, and may your wages be full from the Lord God of Israel, to whom you have come to put your trust under his wings.” 13 And she said, “May I find favor in your eyes, my lord, because you have comforted me, and because you have spoken to the heart of your slave — and see, I will be as one of your servant girls.”

14 And Boaz said to her, “It is already the hour to eat. Come here, and eat some of the bread, and dip your piece in the vinegar.” And Ruth sat down beside the reapers; and Boaz heaped up roasted barley for her, and she ate and was filled, and had some left over. 15 And she got up to gather up; and Boaz ordered his young men, “Let her gather up even among the sheaves, and do not shame her. 16 And be sure to carry some for her, and be sure to throw down for her out of the heaps; and let her gather it up, and do not rebuke her.”

17 So she gathered up in the field until evening; and she beat out what she had gathered up, and it came to about six gallons of barley. [c] 18 And she took it up and went into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gathered up; and Ruth brought out and gave her what she had left over from the food that had filled her. 19 And her mother-in-law said to her, “Where did you gather up today, and where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you.” And Ruth told her mother-in-law where she had worked, and said, “The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz.”

20 And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “Blessed is he to the Lord, because he has not left off his mercy with the living and with the dead.” And Naomi said to her, “The man is near to us; he is one of our near relatives.” [d] 21 And Ruth said to her mother-in-law, “He even said to me, ‘Keep close to my young men until they have finished the whole harvest that is mine.’” 22 And Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you went out with his young women, and that no one will come upon you in another field.” 23 And Ruth kept close to the young women of Boaz, gathering up until they had finished the barley harvest and the wheat harvest. And she lived with her mother-in-law. [e]