Ruth 2
1 Naomi had a relative on her husband's side, a man of standing from Elimelech's family. His name was Boaz.
2 Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the field and gather ears of grain behind someone who looks kindly on me.” She replied, “Go, my daughter.”
3 She went and came to the field, gathering ears of grain behind the harvesters. As it happened, she came to the part of the field that belonged to Boaz, from Elimelech's family.
4 Just then Boaz came from Bethlehem and said to the harvesters, “May the LORD be with you.” They answered, “May the LORD bless you.”
5 Boaz asked the servant in charge of the harvesters, “Whose young woman is that?”
6 The servant in charge of the harvesters answered, “She is a young Moabite woman, the one who came back with Naomi from the fields of Moab.
7 She said, ‘Please let me gather ears of grain and pick them up among the bundles behind the harvesters.’ She came and has been on her feet from morning until now; she has hardly sat down in the shelter.”
8 Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter. Don't go to gather in another field, and don't leave here. Stay close to my servant women.
9 Watch which field they are harvesting and follow behind them. I have ordered the young men not to touch you. When you are thirsty, go to the water jars and drink from what the young men have drawn.”
10 She bowed with her face to the ground and said to him, “Why have you looked kindly on me and taken notice of me, though I am a foreigner?”
11 Boaz answered her, “I've been told all about what you did for your mother-in-law after your husband died: you left your father and mother and the land where you were born, and came to a people you had never known before.
12 May the LORD repay you for what you have done. May you receive a full reward from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”
13 She said, “May I find favor in your eyes, my lord, because you have comforted me and spoken kindly to your servant, though I am not even like one of your servant women.”
14 At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come here, eat some bread, and dip your piece in the vinegar.” She sat beside the harvesters, and he served her roasted grain. She ate, was satisfied, and had some left over.
15 When she got up to gather ears of grain, Boaz ordered his young men, “Let her gather even among the bundles, and don't humiliate her.
16 Also pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to gather. Don't scold her.”
17 She gathered in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gathered, and it came to nearly an ephah of barley.
18 She picked it up and went into the town, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gathered. Ruth took out what she had left after eating her fill and gave it to her.
19 Her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you gather today? Where did you work? Blessed be the one who took notice of you!” She told her mother-in-law who she had worked with and said, “The man's name I worked with today is Boaz.”
20 Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by the LORD, who has not stopped showing his loyal love to the living and the dead!” Naomi added, “That man is a close relative of ours; he is one of our family redeemers.”
21 Ruth the Moabite said, “He also told me, ‘Stay close to my young men until they have finished all my harvest.’”
22 Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, for you to go out with his servant women, so that no one mistreats you in another field.”
23 So she stayed close to Boaz's servant women, gathering ears of grain until the barley harvest and the wheat harvest were over. And she lived with her mother-in-law.
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