Ruth 2

1Naomi had a relative of her husband, a man of great worth, from the clan of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz.

2And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Please let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose eyes I find favor.” And she said to her, “Go, my daughter.”

3So she went and came and gleaned in the field behind the reapers, and she happened to come to the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was from the family of Elimelech.

4And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said to the reapers, “Yahweh be with you.” And they said to him, “May Yahweh bless you.”

5Then Boaz said to his young man who was set over the reapers, “Whose young woman is this?”

6Then the young man who was set over the reapers answered and said, “She is a young Moabite woman who returned with Naomi from the fields of Moab.”

7She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves after the reapers.’ So she came and has remained from morning until now; she has sat in the house only a little.

8Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter: do not go to glean in another field, and also do not go away from here, but stay close with my young women.”

9Keep your eyes on the field where they are harvesting, and follow behind them. Have I not commanded the young men not to touch you? When you are thirsty, go to the jars and drink from what the young men have drawn.

10Then she fell on her face and bowed to the ground and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, though I am a foreign woman?”

11Then Boaz answered and said to her, “I have been fully told all that you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband, and how you left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and went to a people whom you did not know before.”

12May Yahweh repay your work, and may your reward be full from Yahweh, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge.

13Then 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 servant, though I am not like one of your female servants.”

14At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come here and eat some bread, and dip your piece in the sour wine.” So she sat beside the reapers, and he passed her roasted grain. She ate and was satisfied, and she had some left over.

15When she rose to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not humiliate her.”

16And also, you must surely pull out some for her from the bundles and leave it, so that she may gather it, and you must not rebuke her.

17So she gleaned in the field until evening, and beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley.

18She picked it up and went into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. Then she brought out and gave her what she had left over after she was satisfied.

19And her mother-in-law said to her, “Where did you glean today, and where have you worked? Blessed be the one who took notice of you.” So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, and she said, “The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz.”

20Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “Blessed be he by Yahweh, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead.” Then Naomi said to her, “The man is a close relative of ours; he is one of our redeemers.”

21Then Ruth the Moabite said, “He also said to me, ‘You are to stay close by my young men until they have finished all my harvest.’”

22Then Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, so that they do not come upon you in another field.”

23So she stayed close to Boaz's young women to glean, until the end of the barley harvest and the wheat harvest. And she lived with her mother-in-law.