Ruth 2
Legacy Standard Bible
Ruth Gleans in Boaz’ Field
2 Now Naomi had [a]a kinsman of her husband, a [b]mighty man of excellence, of the family of (A)Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. 2 And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Please let me go to the field and (B)glean among the ears of grain after one whom I may find favor in his eyes.” And she said to her, “Go, my daughter.” 3 So she went. And she came and gleaned in the field after the reapers. And [c]it so happened that she happened to come to the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech. 4 Now behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said to the reapers, “(C)May Yahweh be with you.” And they said to him, “May Yahweh bless you.” 5 Then Boaz said to his young man who was [d]in charge of the reapers, “Whose young woman is this?” 6 The young man [e]in charge of the reapers replied, “She is the young Moabite woman who returned with Naomi from the fields of Moab. 7 And she said, ‘Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.’ Thus she came and has remained from the morning until now; she has been sitting in the house for a little while.”
8 Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Have you not heard, my daughter? Do not go to glean in another field; furthermore, do not go on from this one, but [f]stay here with my young women. 9 Let your eyes be on the field which they reap, and go after them. Indeed, I have commanded the young men not to touch you. And if you are thirsty, go to the [g]water jars and drink from what the young men draw.” 10 Then she (D)fell on her face, bowing to the ground and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your sight that you should take notice of me, though I am a foreigner?” 11 Boaz replied to her, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband has been fully told to me, and how you forsook your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and came to a people that you did not previously know. 12 (E)May Yahweh fully repay your work, and may your wages be full from Yahweh, the God of Israel, (F)under whose wings you have come to seek refuge.” 13 Then she said, “May I find favor in your eyes, my lord, for you have comforted me and indeed have spoken to the heart of your servant-woman, though I am not like one of your servant-women.”
14 At mealtime Boaz said to her, “[h]Come here, that you may eat of the bread and dip your piece of bread in the vinegar.” So she sat beside the reapers; and he [i]served her roasted grain, and she ate and was satisfied (G)and had some left. 15 Then she rose to glean, and Boaz commanded his young men, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not dishonor her. 16 Also you shall purposely pull out for her some grain from the bundles and [j]leave it that she may glean, and do not rebuke her.”
17 So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an [k]ephah of barley. 18 She took it up and went into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She also took it out and (H)gave [l]Naomi what she had left after [m]she was satisfied. 19 Her mother-in-law then said to her, “Where did you glean today and where did you [n]work? May he who (I)took notice of you be blessed.” So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had [o]worked and said, “The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz.” 20 Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “(J)May he be blessed of Yahweh who has not forsaken his lovingkindness to the living and to the dead.” Then Naomi said to her, “The man is [p]our relative; he is one of our kinsman redeemers.” 21 Then Ruth the Moabitess said, “[q]Furthermore, he said to me, ‘You should [r]stay close to my young men until they have finished all my harvest.’” 22 Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, so that others do not oppress you in another field.” 23 So she [s]stayed close by the young women of Boaz in order to glean until (K)the end of the barley harvest and the wheat harvest. And she lived with her mother-in-law.
Footnotes
- Ruth 2:1 Or an acquaintance
- Ruth 2:1 Or mighty man of valor, cf. Judg 6:12; 11:1
- Ruth 2:3 Lit her chance chanced upon
- Ruth 2:5 Lit appointed over
- Ruth 2:6 Lit who was appointed over
- Ruth 2:8 Lit cling, cf. 1:14
- Ruth 2:9 Lit vessels
- Ruth 2:14 Lit Draw near
- Ruth 2:14 Lit held out to
- Ruth 2:16 Or forsake, cf. 1:16; 2:11, 20
- Ruth 2:17 An ephah was approx. 21 qt. or 23 l
- Ruth 2:18 Lit her
- Ruth 2:18 Lit her satiety
- Ruth 2:19 Lit do, cf. 1:8, 17; 2:11
- Ruth 2:19 Lit done, cf. 1:8, 17; 2:11
- Ruth 2:20 Lit near to us
- Ruth 2:21 Lit Also that
- Ruth 2:21 Lit cling, cf. 1:14; 2:8
- Ruth 2:23 Lit clung, cf. 1:14; 2:8, 21
Ruth 2
New Living Translation
Ruth Works in Boaz’s Field
2 Now there was a wealthy and influential man in Bethlehem named Boaz, who was a relative of Naomi’s husband, Elimelech.
2 One day Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go out into the harvest fields to pick up the stalks of grain left behind by anyone who is kind enough to let me do it.”
Naomi replied, “All right, my daughter, go ahead.” 3 So Ruth went out to gather grain behind the harvesters. And as it happened, she found herself working in a field that belonged to Boaz, the relative of her father-in-law, Elimelech.
4 While she was there, Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters. “The Lord be with you!” he said.
“The Lord bless you!” the harvesters replied.
5 Then Boaz asked his foreman, “Who is that young woman over there? Who does she belong to?”
6 And the foreman replied, “She is the young woman from Moab who came back with Naomi. 7 She asked me this morning if she could gather grain behind the harvesters. She has been hard at work ever since, except for a few minutes’ rest in the shelter.”
8 Boaz went over and said to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter. Stay right here with us when you gather grain; don’t go to any other fields. Stay right behind the young women working in my field. 9 See which part of the field they are harvesting, and then follow them. I have warned the young men not to treat you roughly. And when you are thirsty, help yourself to the water they have drawn from the well.”
10 Ruth fell at his feet and thanked him warmly. “What have I done to deserve such kindness?” she asked. “I am only a foreigner.”
11 “Yes, I know,” Boaz replied. “But I also know about everything you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband. I have heard how you left your father and mother and your own land to live here among complete strangers. 12 May the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge, reward you fully for what you have done.”
13 “I hope I continue to please you, sir,” she replied. “You have comforted me by speaking so kindly to me, even though I am not one of your workers.”
14 At mealtime Boaz called to her, “Come over here, and help yourself to some food. You can dip your bread in the sour wine.” So she sat with his harvesters, and Boaz gave her some roasted grain to eat. She ate all she wanted and still had some left over.
15 When Ruth went back to work again, Boaz ordered his young men, “Let her gather grain right among the sheaves without stopping her. 16 And pull out some heads of barley from the bundles and drop them on purpose for her. Let her pick them up, and don’t give her a hard time!”
17 So Ruth gathered barley there all day, and when she beat out the grain that evening, it filled an entire basket.[a] 18 She carried it back into town and showed it to her mother-in-law. Ruth also gave her the roasted grain that was left over from her meal.
19 “Where did you gather all this grain today?” Naomi asked. “Where did you work? May the Lord bless the one who helped you!”
So Ruth told her mother-in-law about the man in whose field she had worked. She said, “The man I worked with today is named Boaz.”
20 “May the Lord bless him!” Naomi told her daughter-in-law. “He is showing his kindness to us as well as to your dead husband.[b] That man is one of our closest relatives, one of our family redeemers.”
21 Then Ruth[c] said, “What’s more, Boaz even told me to come back and stay with his harvesters until the entire harvest is completed.”
22 “Good!” Naomi exclaimed. “Do as he said, my daughter. Stay with his young women right through the whole harvest. You might be harassed in other fields, but you’ll be safe with him.”
23 So Ruth worked alongside the women in Boaz’s fields and gathered grain with them until the end of the barley harvest. Then she continued working with them through the wheat harvest in early summer. And all the while she lived with her mother-in-law.
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