路得遇见波阿斯

拿俄米的丈夫以利米勒有个亲戚,名叫波阿斯,是个有名望的财主。 摩押女子路得对拿俄米说:“让我到田里去,跟在那些愿意恩待我的人后面,捡些麦穗回来。”拿俄米说:“去吧,我的女儿!” 于是,路得便去了。她恰巧来到以利米勒的亲戚波阿斯的田里,跟在收割的人后面捡麦穗。 当时,波阿斯刚好从伯利恒来到田间,向那些收割的工人问安说:“愿耶和华与你们同在。”他们回答说:“愿耶和华赐福与你。” 波阿斯问负责收割的工头说:“那是谁家的女子?” 工头回答说:“她是摩押女子,跟拿俄米刚从摩押回来。 她求我让她跟在收割的人后面,捡工人扎捆时遗落的麦穗。她一大早就来到这里,一直捡到现在,除了在凉棚里稍微坐了一会儿之外,几乎没有休息。”

波阿斯对路得说:“姑娘[a],听我说,你不用到别人的田里去拾麦穗了,也不必离开这里,只管留下来跟我的女工在一起。 你看我的工人在哪一块田里收割,就跟着我的女工去,我已经吩咐工人不可欺负你。要是你渴了,就去水罐那里喝工人打回来的水。” 10 路得就俯伏在地叩谢他,说:“我不过是个外族人,你为什么这样恩待我、体恤我?” 11 波阿斯说:“自从你丈夫过世之后,你怎样善待婆婆,怎样离开父母和家乡来到素不相识的人当中,我都听说了。 12 愿耶和华照你所行的奖赏你!你来投靠在以色列的上帝耶和华的翅膀下,愿祂厚厚地赏赐你。” 13 路得说:“我主啊!我真是在你面前蒙恩,虽然我连你的婢女都不如,你还好言安慰我。”

14 吃饭的时候,波阿斯对路得说:“来,吃一点饼吧,可以蘸着醋吃。”路得便坐在那些收割工人旁边。波阿斯递给她一些烤好的麦穗。她吃饱了,还有剩余的。 15 当她起来又要去捡麦穗的时候,波阿斯就吩咐他的工人说:“你们要任由她捡,就算她在割下的麦子中捡麦穗,你们也不要为难她。 16 甚至要从麦捆中抽一些出来让她捡,不要责骂她。”

17 于是,路得便在田间继续捡麦穗,到了黄昏,她把捡到的麦穗打了,大约有十三公斤大麦。 18 她把捡来的麦子带回城里给婆婆拿俄米看,又把剩下来的食物给婆婆。 19 婆婆问她:“你今天在哪里拾麦穗?在哪里做工?愿那善待你的人蒙福!”她就告诉婆婆说:“今天我在一个名叫波阿斯的人那里工作。” 20 拿俄米说:“愿耶和华赐福给他,他对活着的和过世的都是那么有情有义。”拿俄米又对路得说:“这人是我们本族的人,是我们的一个近亲。” 21 摩押女子路得说:“他还对我说,‘你可以跟在我的工人后面捡麦穗,直到他们把我的庄稼都收完为止。’” 22 拿俄米对儿媳路得说:“我的女儿啊,你就跟他的女工一起到田里去,免得去别人的田里被欺负。” 23 因此,路得便常跟波阿斯的女工在一起捡麦穗,直到大麦小麦都收割完毕。路得就这样陪伴婆婆过日子。

Footnotes

  1. 2:8 姑娘”希伯来文是“女儿”。

Na‘omi had a relative on her husband’s side, a prominent and wealthy member of Elimelekh’s clan, whose name was Bo‘az. Rut the woman from Mo’av said to Na‘omi, “Let me go into the field and glean ears of grain behind anyone who will allow me to.” She answered her, “Go, my daughter.” So she set out, arrived at the field and gleaned behind the reapers.

She happened to be in the part of the field that belonged to Bo‘az from Elimelekh’s clan, when Bo‘az arrived from Beit-Lechem. He said to the reapers, “Adonai be with you”; and they answered him, “Adonai bless you.” Then Bo‘az asked his servant supervising the reapers, “Whose girl is this?” The servant supervising the reapers answered, “She’s a girl from Mo’av who returned with Na‘omi from the plain of Mo’av. She said, ‘Please, let me glean and gather what falls from the sheaves behind the reapers.’ So she went and has kept at it from morning until now, except for a little rest in the shelter.”

Bo‘az said to Rut, “Did you hear that, my daughter? Don’t go to glean in another field, don’t leave this place, but stick here with my working girls. Keep your eyes on whichever field the reapers are working in, and follow the girls. I’ve ordered the young men not to bother you. Whenever you get thirsty, go and drink from the water jars the young men have filled.”

10 She fell on her face, prostrating herself, and said to him, “Why are you showing me such favor? Why are you paying attention to me? After all, I’m only a foreigner.” 11 Bo‘az answered her, “I’ve heard the whole story, everything you’ve done for your mother-in-law since your husband died, including how you left your father and mother and the land you were born in to come to a people about whom you knew nothing beforehand. 12 May Adonai reward you for what you’ve done; may you be rewarded in full by Adonai the God of Isra’el, under whose wings you have come for refuge.” 13 She said, “My lord, I hope I continue pleasing you. You have comforted and encouraged me, even though I’m not one of your servants.”

14 When meal-time came, Bo‘az said to her, “Come here, have something to eat, and dip your piece of bread in the [olive oil and] vinegar.” She sat by the reapers, and they passed her some roasted grain. She ate till she was full, and she had some left over.

15 When she got up to glean, Bo‘az ordered his young men, “Let her glean even among the sheaves themselves, without making her feel ashamed. 16 In fact, pull some ears of grain out from the sheaves on purpose. Leave them for her to glean, and don’t rebuke her.” 17 So she gleaned in the field until evening. When she beat out what she had gathered, it came to about a bushel of barley.

18 She picked it up and went back to the city. Her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned, and Rut brought out and gave her what she had left over after eating her fill. 19 Her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you glean today? Where were you working? Blessed be the one who took such good care of you!” She told her mother-in-law with whom she had been working; she said, “The name of the man with whom I was working today is Bo‘az.” 20 Na‘omi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by Adonai, who has never stopped showing grace, neither to the living nor to the dead.” Na‘omi also told her, “The man is closely related to us; he’s one of our redeeming kinsmen.” 21 Rut the woman from Mo’av said, “Moreover, he even said to me, ‘Stay close to my young men until they’ve finished my harvest.’” 22 Na‘omi said to Rut her daughter-in-law, “It’s good, my daughter, for you to keep going out with his girls; so that you won’t encounter hostility in some other field.” 23 So she stayed close to Bo‘az’s girls to glean, until the end of the barley and wheat harvests; and she lived with her mother-in-law.

Ruth Meets Boaz

There was a (A)relative of Naomi’s husband, a man of great wealth, of the family of (B)Elimelech. His name was (C)Boaz. So Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Please let me go to the (D)field, and glean heads of grain after him in whose sight I may find favor.”

And she said to her, “Go, my daughter.”

Then she left, and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers. And she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.

Now behold, Boaz came from (E)Bethlehem, and said to the reapers, (F)“The Lord be with you!”

And they answered him, “The Lord bless you!”

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

So the servant who was in charge of the reapers answered and said, “It is the young Moabite woman (G)who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab. And she said, ‘Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.’ So she came and has continued from morning until now, though she rested a little in the house.”

Then Boaz said to Ruth, “You will listen, my daughter, will you not? Do not go to glean in another field, nor go from here, but stay close by my young women. Let your eyes be on the field which they reap, and go after them. Have I not commanded the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn.”

10 So she (H)fell on her face, bowed down to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found (I)favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?”

11 And Boaz answered and said to her, “It has been fully reported to me, (J)all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and have come to a people whom you did not know before. 12 (K)The Lord repay your work, and a full reward be given you by the Lord God of Israel, (L)under whose wings you have come for refuge.”

13 Then she said, (M)“Let me find favor in your sight, my lord; for you have comforted me, and have spoken [a]kindly to your maidservant, (N)though I am not like one of your maidservants.”

14 Now Boaz said to her at mealtime, “Come here, and eat of the bread, and dip your piece of bread in the vinegar.” So she sat beside the reapers, and he passed parched grain to her; and she ate and (O)was satisfied, and kept some back. 15 And when she rose up to [b]glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not [c]reproach her. 16 Also let grain from the bundles fall purposely for her; leave it that she may glean, and do not rebuke her.”

17 So she gleaned in the field until evening, and beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of (P)barley. 18 Then she took it up and went into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. So she brought out and gave to her (Q)what she had kept back after she had been satisfied.

19 And her mother-in-law said to her, “Where have you gleaned today? And where did you work? Blessed be the one who (R)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 Boaz.”

20 Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, (S)“Blessed be he of the Lord, who (T)has not forsaken His kindness to the living and the dead!” And Naomi said to her, “This man is a relation of ours, (U)one of [d]our close relatives.”

21 Ruth the Moabitess said, “He also said to me, ‘You shall stay close by my young men until they have finished all my harvest.’ ”

22 And Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, and that people do not [e]meet you in any other field.” 23 So she stayed close by the young women of Boaz, to glean until the end of barley harvest and wheat harvest; and she dwelt with her mother-in-law.

Footnotes

  1. Ruth 2:13 Lit. to the heart of
  2. Ruth 2:15 Gather after the reapers
  3. Ruth 2:15 rebuke
  4. Ruth 2:20 our redeemers, Heb. goalenu
  5. Ruth 2:22 encounter