Ruth 1 - 2
Naomi’s Husband and Sons Die
1Now it happened in the days awhen the judges judged, that there was ba famine in the land. And a certain man cof Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the fields of Moab 1with his wife and his two sons. 2The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife, Naomi; and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem in Judah. Now they acame to the fields of Moab and remained there. 3Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left with her two sons. 4They took for themselves Moabite women as wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. And they lived there about ten years. 5Then 1both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and the woman was left without her two children and her husband.
Ruth Is Determined to Go with Naomi
6Then she arose with her daughters-in-law and returned from the fields of Moab, for she had heard in the fields of Moab that 1Yahweh had avisited His people to bgive them 2food. 7So she went forth from the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her; and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. 8And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each of you to her mother’s house. aMay Yahweh 1show lovingkindness with you as you have 2shown with the dead and with me. 9“May Yahweh grant that you may find rest, each in the house of her husband.” Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept. 10And they said to her, “No, but we will return with you to your people.” 11But Naomi said, “Return, my daughters. Why should you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb, that athey may be your husbands? 12“Return, my daughters! Go, for I am too old to have a husband. If I said I have hope, if I should even have a husband tonight and also bear sons, 13would you therefore wait until they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters; for it is more bitter for me than for you, for athe hand of Yahweh has gone forth against me.” 14And they lifted up their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.
15Then she said, “Behold, your sister-in-law has returned to her people and her agods; return after your sister-in-law.” 16But Ruth said, “Do not press me to forsake you in turning back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. 17“Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may aYahweh do to me, and more, if anything but death separates you and me.” 18So ashe saw that she was determined to go with her, and she 1said no more to her.
19Then they both went until they came to Bethlehem. Now it happened, when they had come to Bethlehem, aall the city was stirred because of them, and 1the women said, “Is this Naomi?” 20She said to them, “Do not call me 1Naomi; call me 2Mara, for 3,athe Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. 21“I went out full, but aYahweh has caused me to return empty. Why do you call me Naomi? Yahweh has answered against me, and 1the Almighty has brought calamity against me.”
22So Naomi returned, and with her Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, who returned from the fields of Moab. Now they came to Bethlehem at athe beginning of barley harvest.
Ruth Gleans in Boaz’ Field
2Now Naomi had 1a kinsman of her husband, a 2mighty man of excellence, of the family of aElimelech, whose name was Boaz. 2And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Please let me go to the field and aglean among the ears of grain after one whom I may find favor in his eyes.” And she said to her, “Go, my daughter.” 3So she went. And she came and gleaned in the field after the reapers. And 1it so happened that she happened to come to the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech. 4Now behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said to the reapers, “aMay Yahweh be with you.” And they said to him, “May Yahweh bless you.” 5Then Boaz said to his young man who was 1in charge of the reapers, “Whose young woman is this?” 6The young man 1in charge of the reapers replied, “She is the young Moabite woman who returned with Naomi from the fields of Moab. 7“And she said, ‘Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.’ Thus she came and has remained from the morning until now; she has been sitting in the house for a little while.”
8Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Have you not heard, my daughter? Do not go to glean in another field; furthermore, do not go on from this one, but 1stay here with my young women. 9“Let your eyes be on the field which they reap, and go after them. Indeed, I have commanded the young men not to touch you. And if you are thirsty, go to the 1water jars and drink from what the young men draw.” 10Then she afell on her face, bowing to the ground and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your sight that you should take notice of me, though I am a foreigner?” 11Boaz replied to her, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband has been fully told to me, and how you forsook your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and came to a people that you did not previously know. 12“aMay Yahweh fully repay your work, and may your wages be full from Yahweh, the God of Israel, bunder whose wings you have come to seek refuge.” 13Then she said, “May I find favor in your eyes, my lord, for you have comforted me and indeed have spoken to the heart of your servant-woman, though I am not like one of your servant-women.”
14At mealtime Boaz said to her, “1Come here, that you may eat of the bread and dip your piece of bread in the vinegar.” So she sat beside the reapers; and he 2served her roasted grain, and she ate and was satisfied aand had some left. 15Then she rose to glean, and Boaz commanded his young men, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not dishonor her. 16“Also you shall purposely pull out for her some grain from the bundles and 1leave it that she may glean, and do not rebuke her.”
17So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an 1ephah of barley. 18She took it up and went into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She also took it out and agave 1Naomi what she had left after 2she was satisfied. 19Her mother-in-law then said to her, “Where did you glean today and where did you 1work? May he who atook notice of you be blessed.” So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had 2worked and said, “The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz.” 20Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “aMay he be blessed of Yahweh who has not forsaken his lovingkindness to the living and to the dead.” Then Naomi said to her, “The man is 1our relative; he is one of our kinsman redeemers.” 21Then Ruth the Moabitess said, “1Furthermore, he said to me, ‘You should 2stay close to my young men until they have finished all my harvest.’” 22Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, so that others do not oppress you in another field.” 23So she 1stayed close by the young women of Boaz in order to glean until athe end of the barley harvest and the wheat harvest. And she lived with her mother-in-law.