Ruth 2
1 Now her husband Elimelech had a kinsman, a powerful man, and very rich, whose name was Booz.
Now Naomi had a relative of her husband, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz.
2 And Ruth the Moabitess said to her mother in law: If thou wilt, I will go into the field, and glean the ears of corn that escape the hands of the reapers, wheresoever I shall find grace with a householder that will be favourable to me. And she answered her: Go, my daughter.
Ruth, the Moabite woman, said to Naomi, “Now let me go and glean what remains among the ears of grain in the fields. I will follow anyone in whose eyes I will find favor.” So Naomi said to her, “Go, my daughter.”
3 She went therefore and gleaned the ears of corn after the reapers. And it happened that the owner of that field was Booz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech.
Ruth went and gleaned what remained in the fields after they had harvested it. She happened to come to the portion of the fields belonging to Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimelek.
4 And behold, he came out of Bethlehem, and said to the reapers: The Lord be with you. And they answered him: The Lord bless thee.
Behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said to the reapers, “May Yahweh be with you.” They answered him, “May Yahweh bless you.”
5 And Booz said to the young man that was set over the reapers: Whose maid is this?
Then Boaz said to his servant who was supervising the reapers, “What man does this young woman belong to?”
6 And he answered him: This is the Moabitess who came with Noemi, from the land of Moab,
The servant supervising the reapers answered and said, “It is the young Moabite woman who came back with Naomi from the land of Moab.
7 And she desired leave to glean the ears of corn that remain, following the steps of the reapers: and she hath been in the field from morning till now, and hath not gone home for one moment.
She said to me, 'Please let me glean what remains in the field after the workers harvest the crop.' So she came here and has continued from the morning until now, except that she rested a little in the house.”
8 And Booz said to Ruth: Hear me, daughter, do not go to glean in any other field, and do not depart from this place: but keep with my maids,
Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Are you listening to me, my daughter? Do not go and glean in another field; do not leave my field. Instead, stay here and work with my young female workers.
9 And follow where they reap. For I have charged my young men, not to molest thee: and if thou art thirsty, go to the vessels, and drink of the waters whereof the servants drink.
Keep your eyes only on the field where the men are reaping and follow behind the other women. Have I not instructed the men not to touch you? Whenever you are thirsty, you may go to the waterpots and drink the water that the men have drawn.”
10 She fell on her face and worshipping upon the ground, said to him: Whence cometh this to me, that I should find grace before thy eyes, and that thou shouldst vouchsafe to take notice of me a woman of another country?
Then she bowed down before Boaz, touching her face to the ground. She said to him, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you should be concerned about me, a foreigner?”
11 And he answered her: All hath been told me, that thou hast done to thy mother in law after the death of thy husband: and how thou hast left thy parents, and the land wherein thou wast born, and art come to a people which thou knewest not heretofore.
Boaz answered and said to her, “It has been reported to me, all that you have done since the death of your husband. You have left your father, mother, and the land of your birth to follow your mother-in-law and to come to a people you do not know.
12 The Lord render unto thee for thy work, and mayest thou receive a full reward of the Lord the God of Israel, to whom thou art come, and under whose wings thou art fled.
May Yahweh reward you for your deed. May you receive full payment from Yahweh, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have found refuge.”
13 And she said: I have found grace in thy eyes, my lord, who hast comforted me and hast spoken to the heart of thy handmaid, who am not like to one of thy maids.
Then she said, “Let me find favor in your eyes, my master, for you have comforted me, and you have spoken kindly to me, though I am not one of your female servants.”
14 And Booz said to her: At mealtime come thou hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. So she sat at the side of the reapers, and she heaped to herself frumenty, and ate and was filled, and took the leavings.
At mealtime Boaz said to Ruth, “Come here, and eat some of the bread, and dip your morsel in the wine vinegar.” She sat beside the reapers, and he offered her some roasted grain. She ate until she was satisfied and left the rest of it.
15 And she arose from thence, to glean the ears of corn as before. And Booz commanded his servants, saying: If she would even reap with you, hinder her not:
As she got up to gather up grain, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, “Let her gather up the grain even among the bundles, and do not tell her not to.
16 And let fall some of your handfuls of purpose, and leave them, that she may gather them without shame, and let no man rebuke her when she gathereth them.
Also pull out for her some ears of grain from the bundles, and leave them for her to gather up, and do not rebuke her.”
17 She gleaned therefore in the field till evening: and beating out with a rod and threshing what she had gleaned, she found about the measure of an ephi of barley, that is, three bushels:
So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out the ears of grain that she had gathered, and the grain was about an ephah of barley.
18 Which she took up and returned into the city, and shewed it to her mother in law: moreover she brought out, and gave her of the remains of her meat, wherewith she had been filled.
She lifted it up and went into the city. Then her mother-in-law saw what she had gathered. Ruth also brought out the roasted grain left from her meal and gave it to her.
19 And her mother in law said to her: Where hast thou gleaned today, and where hast thou wrought? blessed be he that hath had pity on thee. And she told her with whom she had wrought: and she told the man’s name, that he was called Booz.
Her mother-in-law said to her, “Where have you gleaned today? Where did you go to work? May the man who helped you be blessed.” Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the man who owned the field where she had worked. She said, “The name of the man who owns the field where I worked today is Boaz.”
20 And Noemi answered her: Blessed be he of the Lord: because the same kindness which he shewed to the living, he hath kept also to the dead. And again she said: The man is our kinsman.
Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by Yahweh, who has not left off his loyalty to the living and to the dead.” Naomi said to her, “That man is near of kin to us, one of our kinsman-redeemers.”
21 And Ruth said, He also charged me, that I should keep close to his reapers, till all the corn should be reaped.
Ruth the Moabite woman said, “Indeed, he said to me, 'You should keep close to my young men until they have finished all my harvest.'”
22 And her mother in law said to her: It is better for thee, my daughter, to go out to reap with his maids, lest in another man’s field some one may resist thee.
Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young female workers, so that you do not come to harm in any other field.”
23 So she kept close to the maids of Booz: and continued to glean with them, till all the barley and the wheat were laid up in the barns.
So she stayed close to Boaz's female workers in order to glean to the end of the barley harvest and the wheat harvest. She lived with her mother-in-law.
