¹⁴ At this they wept^(A) aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law^(B) goodbye,^(C) but Ruth clung to her.^(D)

¹⁵ “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law^(E) is going back to her people and her gods.^(F) Go back with her.”

¹⁶ But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you^(G) or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go,^(H) and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people^(I) and your God my God.^{(J) 17} Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely,^(K) if even death separates you and me.”^{(L) 18} When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.^(M)

¹⁷ So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed^(A) the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah.^{[a](B) 18} She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over^(C) after she had eaten enough.

¹⁹ Her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!^(D)”

Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. “The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz,” she said.

²⁰ “The Lord bless him!^(E)” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law.^(F) “He has not stopped showing his kindness^(G) to the living and the dead.” She added, “That man is our close relative;^(H) he is one of our guardian-redeemers.^[b](I)”

Naomi Gains a Son

¹³ So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When he made love to her, the Lord enabled her to conceive,^(A) and she gave birth to a son.^{(B) 14} The women^(C) said to Naomi: “Praise be to the Lord,^(D) who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer.^(E) May he become famous throughout Israel! ¹⁵ He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law,^(F) who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons,^(G) has given him birth.”

¹⁶ Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him. ¹⁷ The women living there said, “Naomi has a son!” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse,^(H) the father of David.^(I)