²² “‘When you reap the harvest^(A) of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest.^(B) Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you.^(C) I am the Lord your God.’”

¹⁹ When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it.^(A) Leave it for the foreigner,^(B) the fatherless and the widow,^(C) so that the Lord your God may bless^(D) you in all the work of your hands. ²⁰ When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time.^(E) Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. ²¹ When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow.

⁹ “‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges^(A) of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest.^{(B) 10} Do not go over your vineyard a second time^(C) or pick up the grapes that have fallen.^(D) Leave them for the poor and the foreigner.^(E) I am the Lord your God.

⁵ So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers^(A) to visit you in advance and finish the arrangements for the generous gift you had promised. Then it will be ready as a generous gift,^(B) not as one grudgingly given.^(C)

Generosity Encouraged

⁶ Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.^{(D) 7} Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give,^(E) not reluctantly or under compulsion,^(F) for God loves a cheerful giver.^{(G) 8} And God is able^(H) to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need,^(I) you will abound in every good work. ⁹ As it is written:

¹⁰ Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food^(L) will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.^{(M) 11} You will be enriched^(N) in every way so that you can be generous^(O) on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.^(P)

¹² This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs^(Q) of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.^(R)

¹⁵ As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, “Let her gather among the sheaves^(A) and don’t reprimand her. ¹⁶ Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don’t rebuke^(B) her.”

¹⁷ So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed^(C) the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah.^{[a](D) 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^(E) 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!^(F)”

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

²¹ Then Ruth the Moabite^(L) said, “He even said to me, ‘Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain.’”

²² Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with the women who work for him, because in someone else’s field you might be harmed.”

²³ So Ruth stayed close to the women of Boaz to glean until the barley^(M) and wheat harvests^(N) were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.

⁴¹ But now as for what is inside you—be generous to the poor,^(A) and everything will be clean for you.^(B)