Judges 18 - Ruth 2

Evangelical Heritage Version

18 In those days there was no king in Israel.

The Migration of Some Danites

Also in those days, some members of the tribe of Dan were seeking a territory of their own in which to live, because up to that day they had not taken possession of their inheritance in the midst of the tribes of Israel. ² So the descendants of Dan sent out from Zorah and Eshtaol five men who were strong warriors. They were to represent their clans and to scout the land and explore it. They said to the five men, “Go explore the land.” So they went to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and they spent the night there.

³ When they were near the house of Micah, they recognized the voice of the young Levite. They turned aside there and said to him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What advantage is there for you here?”

⁴ He told them what Micah had done for him: “He hired me, and I became his priest.”

⁵ They said to him, “Please inquire from God, so that we will know whether the way we are going will lead to success.”

⁶ The priest said to them, “Go in peace. The way you are going is approved by the Lord.”

⁷ So the five men continued their journey until they arrived at Laish. They saw that the people there were living in the same way as the Sidonians, quiet and unsuspecting. There was no one to disturb them or oppress them.^[a] They were far removed from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone else.^[b]

⁸ Then the five spies returned to their fellow tribesmen^[c] at Zorah and Eshtaol. Their brothers said to them, “What do you think?”

⁹ The five answered, “Get up! Let us go up against them, ⎣for we have entered the land and journeyed as far as Laish. We saw how the people lived in security in the same way as the Sidonians, but they were far from the Sidonians, and they had no dealings with Aram. Get up! Let us go up against them,⎦^[d] for we have seen the land. We assure you it is very good. Why are you still sitting here? Do not be slow. Get going to the land and take possession of it. ¹⁰ When you go, you will come to an unsuspecting people, whose land is spacious. Yes, God has given into your hands a place where there is no lack of anything on earth.”

¹¹ So the clan of Danites set out from Zorah and Eshtaol. There were six hundred men, equipped for war. ¹² They went up and camped near Kiriath Jearim in Judah. (That is why the place has been called Mahaneh Dan^[e] to this present day. It is west of Kiriath Jearim.) ¹³ Then they traveled on from there to the hill country of Ephraim and came to the house of Micah.

¹⁴ The five men who had gone out to spy on the land of Laish said to their brothers, “Do you know that in one of these houses there is a priestly vest and a household god, an engraved and a cast idol? So now, you know what to do.”

¹⁵ They turned in and entered the house of the young Levite at the homestead of Micah, and they asked him how he was doing. ¹⁶ Meanwhile, the six hundred descendants of Dan, equipped for war, were standing at the entrance of the gate. ¹⁷ The five men who had gone to spy on the land came and took the engraved idol, the priestly vest, the household god, and the cast idol while the priest was standing at the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men equipped for war.

¹⁸ When these five men came into the house of Micah and took the engraved idol, the priestly vest, the household god, and the cast idol, the priest asked them, “What are you doing?”

¹⁹ They told him, “Be quiet. Put your hand over your mouth. Come with us and be our father and priest! Is it better for you to be priest for the household of one man or to be priest for an entire tribe and clan in Israel?”

²⁰ Then the priest’s heart was glad, and he took the vest, the household god, and the engraved idol, and he went along with the people. ²¹ So they set out on their way and sent their children and their cattle and possessions ahead of them.

²² After the Danites had gone some distance from the house of Micah, the men who lived in the houses around the house of Micah were called out to pursue them, and they caught up with the Danites. ²³ They called to the Danites, who turned toward them and said to Micah, “What is wrong with you? Why are you shouting like this?”

²⁴ Micah replied, “You have taken my gods that I made and my priest, and you have gone off. What is left to me? How can you ask me, ‘What is wrong with you?’”

²⁵ The Danites said to him, “Do not let us hear your voice. If you do, those men with a bad attitude will attack you, and you will lose your life, not to mention the lives of your household.” ²⁶ The Danites then continued on their way, and when Micah saw that they were stronger than he was, he turned around and went back to his house.

²⁷ So the Danites took what Micah had made and also his priest, and they went up against Laish, against a quiet and unsuspecting people, and they struck them down by the edge^[f] of the sword and burned down the city.

²⁸ The people of Laish had no one to rescue them, because they were far away from Sidon, and they did not have any alliance with anyone else. The city was located in the valley near Beth Rehob.

The Danites rebuilt the city and lived there. ²⁹ They named the city Dan, after their forefather Dan, who was born to Israel, but Laish had been the original name of the city.

³⁰ So the Danites set up the engraved idol for themselves, and Jonathan son of Gershom, the son of Moses,^[g] and his sons became priests for the tribe of Dan, up to the day of the captivity of the land. ³¹ They maintained for themselves the engraved idol that Micah had made, throughout all the days that the house of God was in Shiloh.

19 In those days there was no king in Israel.

A Depraved Levite and a Depraved City

There was a certain Levite living in a remote part of the hill country of Ephraim, who took a woman from Bethlehem of Judah as a concubine. ² But his concubine committed adultery or prostitution against him^[h] and left him in order to return to her father’s house in Bethlehem of Judah. She remained there four months.

³ Then her husband got up and went after her to appeal to her heart in order to win her back. He brought with him a young man, who was his servant, and a pair of donkeys.

His concubine let him into her father’s house, and when the woman’s father saw him, he was happy to see him. ⁴ The Levite’s father-in-law, the father of the young woman, prevailed upon the man to stay with him for three days, eating, drinking, and spending the night there.

⁵ On the fourth day they got up early in the morning, and the man got ready to leave, but the young woman’s father said to his son-in-law, “Build up your strength with a little food. After that you may go.” ⁶ So the two of them sat around eating and drinking together. Then the young woman’s father said to the man, “Please, I beg you, stay one more night and enjoy yourself.” ⁷ The Levite got up to go, but his father-in-law pressured him, so he stayed and spent another night there.

⁸ He got up early on the morning of the fifth day in order to go, but the woman’s father said, “Please build up your strength first.” They delayed until the sun began to go down^[i] while the two of them were eating. ⁹ When the man got up to leave with his concubine and his servant, his father-in-law, the woman’s father, again said to him, “Please! The day is already turning into evening. Please stay the night. Look! The day is slipping away! Spend the night here, and enjoy yourself! You can get up early tomorrow to be on your way and return to your home.” ¹⁰ But the Levite did not want to stay another night. Instead, he got up and went on his way, and he came to Jebus (that is, Jerusalem). He had with him the pair of saddled donkeys, as well as his concubine.

¹¹ When they were getting close to Jebus and the day was almost gone, the young man said to his master, “Let us turn aside to this city of the Jebusites and spend the night there.”

¹² But his master said to him, “We will not turn aside into a foreign city that does not belong to the people of Israel. We will go on to Gibeah.” ¹³ He said to his young man, “Come on, we will continue on to one of these other places. We can spend the night in Gibeah or Ramah.”

¹⁴ So they continued on, and as the sun was going down on them, they came close to Gibeah, which belonged to Benjamin. ¹⁵ There they turned aside to spend the night in Gibeah. But when the man went and sat in the city square, there was no one who took them into his house to spend the night.

¹⁶ Just then, an old man was coming from his work in the field because it was evening. The man was from the hill country of Ephraim, but he was living in Gibeah, though the men of that place were Benjaminites. ¹⁷ The old man looked up and saw the traveler in the city square, and the old man said, “Where are you going, and where did you come from?”

¹⁸ The Levite said to him, “We are traveling from Bethlehem of Judah to a remote part of the hill country of Ephraim. I am from there. I traveled as far as Bethlehem of Judah, and now I am going to the House of the Lord, but there is no one who will take me into his house. ¹⁹ We even have straw and fodder for our donkeys, and we also have enough bread and wine for me, for your servant my wife, and for the young man. We, your servants, are lacking nothing.”

²⁰ At this the old man said, “Peace be with you. Anything you lack will be my responsibility—only do not spend the night in the city square.” ²¹ So the old man brought the Levite to his house and fed the donkeys. He washed their feet, and they ate and drank together.

²² As they were making their hearts glad, all of a sudden the men of the city—worthless, good-for-nothing men—surrounded the house, pounding on the door. They said to the old man, the owner of the house, “Bring out the man who has come to your house. We want to get to know^[j] him.”

²³ But the owner of the household went out to them and said, “No, my brothers, do not do such an evil thing, I beg you. Since this man has come to my house, do not do this disgraceful, foolish thing. ²⁴ Look! Here is my virgin daughter and his concubine. Now I will bring them out, and you may abuse them and do to them whatever you see fit. But do not do this disgraceful, foolish thing to this man.”

²⁵ But the men were not willing to listen to him. So the Levite took hold of his concubine and forced her to go out to them. They were intimate with^[k] her and mistreated her all night long until morning. Then they let her go at the break of dawn.

²⁶ As morning was dawning, the woman came and collapsed at the entrance to the man’s house, where her husband had been staying until the light of day.

²⁷ When her husband got up in the morning, he opened the doors of the house and went out in order to go on his way. There she was! His concubine had collapsed at the entrance of the house with her hands on the threshold. ²⁸ He said to her, “Get up. Let’s go.” But there was no answer. So he put her on the donkey, got up, and returned to his place.

²⁹ When he got home, he took a knife, grabbed his concubine, and cut her into pieces. Limb by limb he cut her into twelve pieces and sent her into all the territory of Israel. ³⁰ Everyone who saw it said, “Nothing like this has ever been done or seen, from the day the people of Israel came up from the land of Egypt until this day.”

⎣The Levite commanded the men he sent to say the following to all the men of Israel: “Has anything like this happened since the day that the people of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt until this day?⎦ ^[l]Think this over, come up with a plan, and speak up!”

20 Then all the people of Israel came out, and the whole community from Dan to Beersheba, including the Israelites in Gilead, assembled as one man before the Lord at Mizpah. ² The pillars^[m] of the people from all the tribes of Israel took their places in the assembly of the people of God—four hundred thousand foot soldiers, armed with swords. ³ (The people of Benjamin heard that the people of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.) The people of Israel said, “Speak up! How did this evil happen?”

⁴ Then the Levite, the husband of the woman who had been murdered, answered, “I, along with my concubine, came to Gibeah in Benjamin to spend the night. ⁵ But the citizens of Gibeah rose up against me and surrounded the house during the night. They intended to kill me. They abused my concubine, and she died. ⁶ So I took hold of my concubine, cut her into pieces, and I sent her to every region of the inheritance of Israel, because the men of Gibeah did this outrageous, foolish deed in Israel. ⁷ Look! All of you are descendants of Israel! Consider the matter and give your judgment.”

⁸ All the people then rose up as one man. They said, “Not one of us will go to his tent, nor will any of us return to their homes. ⁹ Now this is what we will do to Gibeah: We will determine who goes against it by choosing lots. ¹⁰ We will choose ten men out of every hundred from all the tribes of Israel—and a hundred out of a thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand—to gather provisions for the troops. When the men of Israel arrive at Gibeah^[n] in Benjamin, Israel can do to the men of Gibeah what they deserve for all the disgraceful things they did in Israel.” ¹¹ So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city. The various groups were united as if they were one man.

¹² The tribes of Israel sent men through the whole tribe^[o] of Benjamin, saying, “What is this evil thing that has been done among you? ¹³ Now, hand over the men, these worthless, wicked men from Gibeah! We will put them to death and root out this evil from Israel.”

But the people of Benjamin were not willing to listen to the voice of their brothers, the people of Israel. ¹⁴ Instead, the people from all the cities of Benjamin gathered at Gibeah to go out for war against the people of Israel. ¹⁵ On that day the people of Benjamin mustered from their cities twenty-six thousand men armed with swords, not counting those who lived in Gibeah, from which they mustered an additional seven hundred elite men. ¹⁶ From all these troops, there were seven hundred elite soldiers who were left-handed, each of whom could sling a stone at a single hair and not miss.

¹⁷ Meanwhile, the men of Israel, apart from Benjamin, mustered four hundred thousand men armed with swords, each of them a trained soldier.

¹⁸ They arose and went up to Bethel, and the people of Israel inquired of God, “Who will go up to lead us into the battle against the Benjaminites?”

The Lord said, “Judah will take the lead in the battle.”

¹⁹ The Israelites got up in the morning and set up camp against Gibeah. ²⁰ The men of Israel went out for war against Benjamin and lined up for battle at Gibeah. ²¹ But the Benjaminites came out from Gibeah, and that day they struck down to the ground twenty-two thousand men of Israel!

²² The men of Israel renewed their courage and again lined up for battle in the same spot where they had lined up on the first day. ²³ The people of Israel went up and wept before the Lord until evening. They inquired of the Lord, “Shall we go out again to engage in battle with the people of Benjamin, our brothers?”

Again the Lord said, “Go up against them.”

²⁴ The Israelites approached the Benjaminites on the second day. ²⁵ Benjamin came out from Gibeah to confront them on the second day and took down an additional eighteen thousand men from among the Israelites—right down to the ground!—all of them men armed with swords.

²⁶ After that, all the Israelites, the entire army, went up to Bethel. There they wept and sat before the Lord and fasted all that day until evening. They offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the Lord. ²⁷ The people of Israel inquired of the Lord. (The Ark of the Covenant of God was there in those days.) ²⁸ Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, was ministering in front of the ark in those days. He asked, “Shall I again go out to battle against our brothers the Benjaminites, or shall I stop?”

The Lord said, “Go up, because tomorrow I will give them into your hand.”

²⁹ Then Israel positioned men in ambushes all around Gibeah. ³⁰ The men of Israel went up against the men of Benjamin on the third day, and they lined up against Gibeah as they had done before. ³¹ Again the Benjaminites went out to confront the people of Israel. The Benjaminites were drawn away from the city, and they began to strike down some of the people, killing them in the open country as they had done before, along the highway that goes up to Bethel and the one to Gibeah.^[p] They killed about thirty men of Israel.

³² The Benjaminites thought, “They are being struck down before us, just as they were before.”

But the Israelites had said, “We will retreat and draw them out of the city to the highways.”

³³ So all the men of Israel fell back from their positions and drew up a battle line at Baal Tamar. Then the Israelites who were hiding in ambush came bursting out from their positions west of Geba.^{[q] 34} Ten thousand specially chosen men from all Israel came out against Gibeah. The battle was fierce, and the Benjaminites did not realize that calamity was about to fall upon them. ³⁵ The Lord struck down Benjamin before Israel, and the Israelites brought Benjamin to ruin on that day. Twenty-five thousand one hundred men, who were armed with swords, fell. ³⁶ Then the Benjaminites saw that they were beaten.

The men of Israel had given ground to Benjamin because they were relying on the men in the ambushes that they had set up near Gibeah. ³⁷ The hidden attackers struck quickly. They dashed into Gibeah, spread out, and struck the entire city with the edge of the sword. ³⁸ This was the signal for the men of Israel and for those in the ambush: When they saw a great cloud of smoke coming up from the city, ³⁹ the men of Israel were to turn back to join the battle.

Benjamin had begun to strike some of the men of Israel dead, about thirty men. So they said, “Look, they are being struck down before us, as they were in the first battle.” ⁴⁰ But as a column of smoke began to rise above the city, the Benjaminites turned to look behind them, and suddenly they saw that the city was going up toward heaven like a burnt offering. ⁴¹ Then the Israelites turned back, and the Benjaminites were horrified because they realized that disaster was falling upon them. ⁴² They fled from the men of Israel to escape toward the wilderness, but the battle kept up with them, as Israelites from the cities all around them were striking them down. ⁴³ The Israelites encircled Benjamin, pursued them, and overran their positions all the way to Nohah, a spot east of Gibeah. ⁴⁴ From Benjamin, eighteen thousand fell, all of them strong warriors. ⁴⁵ The surviving Benjaminites turned and fled toward the wilderness, to the Rock of Rimmon, but five thousand of these men were picked off along the highways. The Israelites caught up with them at Gidom and struck down two thousand more of their men.

⁴⁶ So the total number of Benjaminites that fell that day was twenty-five thousand men armed with swords, all of them powerful warriors. ⁴⁷ But the surviving six hundred men turned and fled toward the wilderness to the Rock of Rimmon, and they stayed at the Rock of Rimmon for four months.

⁴⁸ The men of Israel had turned back against the Benjaminites and struck them with the edge of the sword. They struck the entire city, including the animals and whatever else could be found. They burned down all the rest of the cities.

Rebuilding the Tribe of Benjamin

21 Previously the men of Israel had taken an oath at Mizpah: “Not a man from among us will give his daughter to a Benjaminite as his wife.”

² The people came to Bethel and remained there before God until evening. They lifted up their voices and wept bitterly. ³ They said, “Why, Lord God of Israel, has this happened in Israel, that today one tribe has been removed from Israel?”

⁴ The next day, when the people rose early, they built an altar there and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings.

⁵ Then the Israelites said, “From all the tribes of Israel, was there anyone who did not come up to the assembly of Israel before the Lord?” For they had taken this solemn oath against anyone who did not come up to the Lord at Mizpah: “He will certainly be put to death.”

⁶ Then the people of Israel felt compassion toward Benjamin, their brother, and they said, “One tribe of Israel is cut off today. ⁷ What can be done to provide wives for those who remain? We have sworn by the Lord not to give any of our daughters to them as wives.”

⁸ So then they asked, “Was there anyone from the tribes of Israel who did not go up to the Lord at Mizpah?” They found that no one from Jabesh Gilead had come to the assembly at the camp. ⁹ In fact, when the roll call had been taken, not a man was there from the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead.

¹⁰ So the assembly sent twelve thousand powerful warriors and commanded them, “Go and strike down the people who live at Jabesh Gilead with the edge of the sword, including the women and children. ¹¹ This is what you are to do: Every male and every woman who has known the bed of a male, you shall devote to destruction.”

¹² They found among the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead four hundred young women who were virgins, who had never known a man by lying down with a male. They brought the four hundred women to the camp at Shiloh in the land of Canaan.

¹³ Then the entire assembly sent a message to the Benjaminites who were at the Rock of Rimmon. They extended an offer of peace to them. ¹⁴ The Benjaminites then returned, and the Israelites gave them the women that they had kept alive from Jabesh Gilead.

But they did not find enough wives for all of them. ¹⁵ Once more the people had compassion on Benjamin because the Lord had left an empty spot among the tribes of the Lord. ¹⁶ So the elders of the assembly asked, “What shall we do to get wives for those who were spared, since the women from Benjamin have been wiped out?” ¹⁷ They said, “There must be a way to provide an inheritance for the surviving remnant of Benjamin, so that a tribe will not be blotted out from Israel! ¹⁸ But we cannot give them wives from our daughters, because the people of Israel have sworn, ‘Cursed is anyone who gives a woman to Benjamin.’”

¹⁹ But then someone said, “Look! There is an annual festival of the Lord in Shiloh, which is north of Bethel, east of the highway that goes from Bethel toward Shechem, and south of Lebonah.”

²⁰ So they commanded the Benjaminites, “Go and lie in wait in the vineyards ²¹ and watch. Then when the daughters of Shiloh come out to join in the dances, come out from the vineyards, and each man should seize a wife for himself from the daughters of Shiloh. Then return to the land of Benjamin. ²² If it happens that their fathers or brothers come to us to complain, we will say to them, ‘Be gracious to them, because we failed to capture a woman for each man during the battle, and you did not break your oath that you would not give your daughters, so you will not incur guilt.’”

²³ So that is what the Benjaminites did. They grabbed and carried off as many women as they needed from among the dancers. Then they went and returned to their family property, rebuilt their cities, and lived in them.

²⁴ At the same time the Israelites returned from there. Each man returned to the territory of his tribe and clan, each man to his own family property.

²⁵ In those days there was no king in Israel, and every man did whatever was right in his own eyes.

Ruth and Naomi Come to Bethlehem

1 During the days of the judges,^[r] a famine occurred in the land. So a man left Bethlehem in Judah to stay awhile^[s] in the territory^[t] of Moab—he, his wife, and his two sons. ² The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were from the clan of Ephrath from Bethlehem in Judah. They entered the territory of Moab and remained there.

³ But Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, so she was left with her two sons. ⁴ They then married Moabite wives. The name of the first was Orpah, and the name of the second was Ruth. They lived there for about ten years. ⁵ But Naomi’s sons, Mahlon and Kilion, also died. So the woman was left without her two children and without her husband.

⁶ Then Naomi set out with her daughters-in-law to return from the territory of Moab, because while she was in the territory of Moab, she had heard that the Lord had graciously visited^[u] his people by providing them with food. ⁷ So she left the place where she had been, and her two daughters-in-law left with her. They set out on the road to return to the land of Judah.

⁸ But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back. Both of you return to your mother’s house. May the Lord show you kindness^[v] as you have shown kindness to the dead and to me. ⁹ May the Lord grant that each of you finds security^[w] in the house of a husband.” Then she kissed them, and they wept loudly.

¹⁰ But they said to her, “No, we will return with you to your people.”

¹¹ Then Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters. Why should you go with me? Am I going to give birth to any more sons^[x] who could become your husbands? ¹² Turn back, my daughters. Go! For I am too old to be married to another husband. Suppose I say, ‘I have hope, and I will be married to another husband tonight, and I will even give birth to sons.’ ¹³ Would you wait for them until they grow up? On the basis of that hope would you give up the chance to marry another husband? No, my daughters. It is much more bitter for me than for you, because the hand of the Lord has reached out against me.”

¹⁴ They once again wept loudly. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth would not let her go.

¹⁵ Naomi said, “Look, your sister-in-law has returned to her people and to her gods. Go back! Follow your sister-in-law.”

¹⁶ But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to abandon you or to turn back from following you. Because wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you make your home, I will make my home. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. ¹⁷ Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me severely and double it^[y] if anything but death^[z] separates me from you.”

¹⁸ When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.

¹⁹ Then the two of them traveled until they arrived at Bethlehem. When they entered Bethlehem, the whole town became excited over them. The women said, “Is this Naomi?”

²⁰ But she said to them, “Do not call me Naomi. Call me Mara,^[aa] because the Almighty has made me very bitter. ²¹ I went away full, but the Lord brought me back empty. Why should you call me Naomi? For the Lord has testified against me,^[ab] and the Almighty has treated me badly.”

²² So Naomi returned with Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, who came back with her from the territory of Moab. When they entered Bethlehem, it was the beginning of the barley harvest.^[ac]

Ruth Meets Boaz

2 Now Naomi had a relative^[ad] of her husband, a wealthy, generous^[ae] man from the clan of Elimelek. His name was Boaz.

² Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “I am going to go out to the fields, so that I can glean^[af] ears of grain wherever I may find favor in the eyes of the owner.” Naomi said to her, “Go ahead, my daughter.”

³ So Ruth went out and gleaned in the grain fields after the reapers. It happened that she was in the field that belonged to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek. ⁴ At just that time, Boaz happened to come out from Bethlehem. He said to the reapers, “The Lord be with you!”

And they said to him, “The Lord bless you!”

⁵ Then Boaz asked his servant who was in charge of the reapers, “Whose young woman is this?”

⁶ The servant who was in charge of the reapers answered, “She is the young Moabite woman who returned with Naomi from the territory of Moab. ⁷ She said, ‘Please let me follow the reapers and glean and gather stalks into sheaves.’ So she came and has been working from early morning till now—except for a short rest in the shelter.”^[ag]

⁸ Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter.^[ah] Do not go off to glean in some other field. In fact, do not leave this one at all! Just stick close to my young women here.^{[ai] 9} Keep your eyes on the field where the men are reaping so that you can follow my women. I have commanded the young men not to touch you. When you are thirsty, you may go to the jars and drink from whatever the young men draw out.”

¹⁰ Then Ruth bowed down with her face to the ground. She said to Boaz, “Why have I found favor in your eyes, so that you acknowledge me even though I am a foreigner?”

¹¹ Boaz replied to her, “I have been fully informed about all that you did for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband and how you left behind your father and mother and the homeland of your relatives, and you came to a people whom you did not know previously. ¹² May the Lord reward your work, and may you be paid in full by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge!”

¹³ Then Ruth said, “I have found such favor in your eyes, my lord, for you have comforted me and you have spoken to the heart of your servant girl—although I cannot be compared to one of your servant girls.”

¹⁴ At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come here and eat some of the food, and dip your piece of bread into the sour wine.”^[aj] So she sat down beside the reapers, and Boaz heaped up a serving of roasted grain for her. She ate until she was full and had some left over.

¹⁵ When she got up to glean, Boaz ordered his workers, “She may glean even among our sheaves. You are not to humiliate her in any way. ¹⁶ In fact, you can even pull out some stalks from the piles for her, and you can drop them on purpose so that she can glean them, and do not rebuke her at all.”

¹⁷ So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed what she had gleaned. It amounted to almost a bushel^[ak] of barley.

¹⁸ When she picked it up and went into town, her mother-in-law saw how much she had gleaned. Ruth also took what she had left over from her meal and gave it to Naomi.

¹⁹ Then her mother-in-law said to her, “Where did you glean today and where did you work? May the man who took notice of you be blessed!”

So she told her mother-in-law in whose field she had worked: “The name of the man in whose field I worked today is Boaz.”

²⁰ Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by the Lord, whose faithfulness^[al] has not forsaken^[am] the living and the dead!”

Naomi also said to her, “This man is related to us. He is even one of our family’s redeemers.”^[an]

²¹ Then Ruth the Moabite said, “He even said to me, ‘Stick close to my workers until they have finished all of the harvest on the land that belongs to me.’”

²² Then Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you can go out with his young women, so that you will not be molested by men in some other field.”

²³ So Ruth stuck close to Boaz’s young women and gleaned until the completion of the barley harvest and the wheat harvest, and she lived with her mother-in-law.