| 1 | In the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land, and a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. |
| 2 | The name of the man was Elim'elech and the name of his wife Na'omi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chil'ion; they were Eph'rathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there. |
| 3 | But Elim'elech, the husband of Na'omi, died, and she was left with her two sons. |
| 4 | These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years; |
| 5 | and both Mahlon and Chil'ion died, so that the woman was bereft of her two sons and her husband. |
| 6 | Then she started with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the LORD had visited his people and given them food. |
| 7 | So she set out from the place where she was, with her two daughters-in-law, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. |
| 8 | But Na'omi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Go, return each of you to her mother's house. May the LORD deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. |
| 9 | The LORD grant that you may find a home, each of you in the house of her husband!" Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept. |
| 10 | And they said to her, "No, we will return with you to your people." |
| 11 | But Na'omi said, "Turn back, my daughters, why will you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? |
| 12 | Turn back, my daughters, go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, even if I should have a husband this night and should bear sons, |
| 13 | would you therefore wait till they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the LORD has gone forth against me." |
| 14 | Then they lifted up their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. |
| 15 | And she said, "See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law." |
| 16 | But Ruth said, "Entreat me not to leave you or to return 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 will I be buried. May the LORD do so to me and more also if even death parts me from you." |
| 18 | And when Na'omi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more. |
| 19 | So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them; and the women said, "Is this Na'omi?" |
| 20 | She said to them, "Do not call me Na'omi, call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. |
| 21 | I went away full, and the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Na'omi, when the LORD has afflicted me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?" |
| 22 | So Na'omi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest. |
| 1 | Now Na'omi had a kinsman of her husband's, a man of wealth, of the family of Elim'elech, whose name was Bo'az. |
| 2 | And Ruth the Moabitess said to Na'omi, "Let me go to the field, and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor." And she said to her, "Go, my daughter." |
| 3 | So she set forth and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers; and she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Bo'az, who was of the family of Elim'elech. |
| 4 | And behold, Bo'az came from Bethlehem; and he said to the reapers, "The LORD be with you!" And they answered, "The LORD bless you." |
| 5 | Then Bo'az said to his servant who was in charge of the reapers, "Whose maiden is this?" |
| 6 | And the servant who was in charge of the reapers answered, "It is the Moabite maiden, who came back with Na'omi from the country of Moab. |
| 7 | She said, `Pray, let me glean and gather among the sheaves after the reapers.' So she came, and she has continued from early morning until now, without resting even for a moment." |
| 8 | Then Bo'az said to Ruth, "Now, listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my maidens. |
| 9 | Let your eyes be upon the field which they are reaping, and go after them. Have I not charged the young men not to molest you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink what the young men have drawn." |
| 10 | Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground, and said to him, "Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, when I am a foreigner?" |
| 11 | But Bo'az answered her, "All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told me, and how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before. |
| 12 | The LORD recompense you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!" |
| 13 | Then she said, "You are most gracious to me, my lord, for you have comforted me and spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not one of your maidservants." |
| 14 | And at mealtime Bo'az said to her, "Come here, and eat some bread, and dip your morsel in the wine." So she sat beside the reapers, and he passed to her parched grain; and she ate until she was satisfied, and she had some left over. |
| 15 | When she rose to glean, Bo'az instructed his young men, saying, "Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her. |
| 16 | And also pull out some from the bundles for her, and leave it for her to glean, and do not rebuke her." |
| 17 | So she gleaned in the field until evening; then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley. |
| 18 | And she took it up and went into the city; she showed her mother-in-law what she had gleaned, and she also brought out and gave her what food she had left over after being satisfied. |
| 19 | And her mother-in-law said to her, "Where did you glean today? And where have you worked? Blessed be the man who took notice of you." So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, and said, "The man's name with whom I worked today is Bo'az." |
| 20 | And Na'omi said to her daughter-in-law, "Blessed be he by the LORD, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead!" Na'omi also said to her, "The man is a relative of ours, one of our nearest kin." |
| 21 | And Ruth the Moabitess said, "Besides, he said to me, `You shall keep close by my servants, till they have finished all my harvest.'" |
| 22 | And Na'omi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, "It is well, my daughter, that you go out with his maidens, lest in another field you be molested." |
| 23 | So she kept close to the maidens of Bo'az, gleaning until the end of the barley and wheat harvests; and she lived with her mother-in-law. |
