16 Also [Jesus] said to the disciples, There was a certain rich man who had a ^[a]manager of his estate, and accusations [against this man] were brought to him, that he was squandering his [master’s] possessions.

² And he called him and said to him, What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management [of my affairs], for you can be [my] manager no longer.

³ And the manager of the estate said to himself, What shall I do, seeing that my master is taking the management away from me? I am not able to dig, and I am ashamed to beg.

⁴ I have come to know what I will do, so that they [my master’s debtors] may accept and welcome me into their houses when I am put out of the management.

⁵ So he summoned his master’s debtors one by one, and he said to the first, How much do you owe my master?

⁶ He said, A hundred measures [about 900 gallons] of oil. And he said to him, Take back your written acknowledgement of ^[b]obligation, and sit down quickly and write fifty [about 450 gallons].

⁷ After that he said to another, And how much do you owe? He said, A hundred measures [about 900 bushels] of wheat. He said to him, Take back your written acknowledgement of ^[c]obligation, and write eighty [about 700 bushels].

⁸ And [his] master praised the dishonest (unjust) manager for acting ^[d]shrewdly and ^[e]prudently; for the sons of this age are shrewder and more prudent and wiser in [^[f]relation to] their own generation [to their own age and ^[g]kind] than are the sons of light.

⁹ And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous mammon (^[h]deceitful riches, money, possessions), so that when it fails, they [those you have favored] may receive and welcome you into the everlasting habitations (dwellings).

¹⁰ He who is faithful in a very little [thing] is faithful also in much, and he who is dishonest and unjust in a very little [thing] is dishonest and unjust also in much.

¹¹ Therefore if you have not been faithful in the [case of] unrighteous mammon (^[i]deceitful riches, money, possessions), who will entrust to you the true riches?

¹² And if you have not proved faithful in that which belongs to another [whether God or man], who will give you that which is your own [that is, ^[j]the true riches]?

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1 In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem of Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, his wife, and his two sons.

² The man’s name was Elimelech and his wife’s name was Naomi and his two sons were named Mahlon [invalid] and Chilion [pining]; they were Ephrathites from Bethlehem of Judah. They went to the country of Moab and continued there.

³ But Elimelech, who Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons.

⁴ And they took wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. They dwelt there about ten years;

⁵ And Mahlon and Chilion died also, both of them, so the woman was bereft of her two sons and her husband.

⁶ Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in Moab how the Lord had visited His people in giving them food.

⁷ So she left the place where she was, her two daughters-in-law with her, and they started on the way back to Judah.

⁸ But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, Go, return each of you to her mother’s house. May the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me.

⁹ The Lord grant that you may find a home and rest, each in the house of her husband! Then she kissed them and they wept aloud.

¹⁰ And they said to her, No, we will return with you to your people.

¹¹ But Naomi said, Turn back, my daughters, why will you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb that may become your husbands?

¹² Turn back, my daughters, go; for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, even if I should have a husband tonight and should bear sons,

¹³ Would you therefore wait till they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters; it is far more bitter for me than for you that the hand of the Lord is gone out against me.

¹⁴ Then they wept aloud again; and Orpah ^[a]kissed her mother-in-law [good-bye], but Ruth clung to her.

¹⁵ And Naomi said, See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.

¹⁶ And Ruth said, Urge me not to leave you or to turn back from following you; for where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. ^[b]Your people shall be my people and your God my God.

¹⁷ Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts me from you.

¹⁸ When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said no more.

¹⁹ So they both went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred about them, and said, Is this Naomi?

²⁰ And she said to them, Call me not Naomi [pleasant]; call me Mara [bitter], for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.

²¹ I went out full, but the Lord has brought me home again empty. Why call me Naomi, since the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?

²² So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her, who returned from the country of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.

2 Now Naomi had a kinsman of her husband’s, a man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz.

² And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor. Naomi said to her, Go, my daughter.

³ And [Ruth] went and gleaned in a field after the reapers; and she happened to stop at the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.

⁴ And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said to the reapers, The Lord be with you! And they answered him, The Lord bless you!

⁵ Then Boaz said to his servant who was set over the reapers, Whose maiden is this?

⁶ And the servant set over the reapers answered, She is the Moabitish girl who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab.

⁷ And she said, I pray you, let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves. So she came and has continued from early morning until now, except when she rested a little in the house.

⁸ Then Boaz said to Ruth, Listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but stay here close by my maidens.

⁹ Watch which field they reap, and follow them. Have I not charged the young men not to molest you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink what the young men have drawn.

¹⁰ Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground, and said to him, Why have I found favor in your eyes that you should notice me, when I am a foreigner?

¹¹ And Boaz said to her, I have been made fully aware of all you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you have left your father and mother and the land of your birth and have come to a people unknown to you before.

¹² The Lord recompense you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under Whose wings you have come to take refuge!

¹³ Then she said, Let me find favor in your sight, my lord. For you have comforted me and have spoken to the heart of your maidservant, though I am not as one of your maidservants.

¹⁴ And at mealtime Boaz said to her, Come here and eat of the bread and dip your morsel in the sour wine [mixed with oil]. And she sat beside the reapers; and he passed her some parched grain, and she ate until she was satisfied and she had some left [for Naomi].

¹⁵ And when she got up to glean, Boaz ordered his young men, Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her.

¹⁶ And let fall some handfuls for her on purpose and let them lie there for her to glean, and do not rebuke her.

¹⁷ So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned. It was about an ephah of barley.

¹⁸ And she took it up and went into the town; she showed her mother-in-law what she had gleaned, and she also brought forth and gave her the food she had reserved after she was satisfied.

¹⁹ And her mother-in-law said to her, Where have you gleaned today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who noticed you. So [Ruth] told [her], The name of him with whom I worked today is Boaz.

²⁰ And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, Blessed be he of the Lord who has not ceased his kindness to the living and to the dead. And Naomi said to her, The man is a near relative of ours, one who has the right to redeem us.^(A)

²¹ And Ruth the Moabitess said, He said to me also, Stay close to my young men until they have harvested my entire crop.

²² And Naomi said to Ruth, It is good, my daughter, for you to go out with his maidens, lest in any other field you be molested.

²³ So she kept close to the maidens of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the barley and wheat harvests. And she lived with her mother-in-law.