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Naomi Makes Plans for Ruth

One day, Naomi said to Ruth:

It's time I found you a husband, who will give you a home and take care of you.

You have been picking up grain alongside the women who work for Boaz, and you know he is a relative of ours. Tonight he will be threshing the grain. Now take a bath and put on some perfume, then dress in your best clothes. Go where he is working, but don't let him see you until he has finished eating and drinking. Watch where he goes to spend the night, then when he is asleep, lift the cover and lie down at his feet.[a] He will tell you what to do.

Ruth answered, “I'll do whatever you say.”

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Footnotes

  1. 3.4 lift the cover … feet: To ask for protection and possibly for marriage.

Ruth and Boaz at the Threshing Floor

One day Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi(A) said to her, “My daughter, I must find a home[a](B) for you, where you will be well provided for. Now Boaz, with whose women you have worked, is a relative(C) of ours. Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor.(D) Wash,(E) put on perfume,(F) and get dressed in your best clothes.(G) Then go down to the threshing floor, but don’t let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking.(H) When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do.”

“I will do whatever you say,”(I) Ruth answered.

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Footnotes

  1. Ruth 3:1 Hebrew find rest (see 1:9)

13 Boaz married Ruth, and the Lord blessed her with a son. 14 After his birth, the women said to Naomi:

Praise the Lord! Today he has given you a grandson to take care of you. We pray that the boy will grow up to be famous everywhere in Israel. 15 He will[a] make you happy and take care of you in your old age, because he is the son of your daughter-in-law. And she loves you more than seven sons of your own would love you.

16 Naomi loved the boy and took good care of him. 17 The neighborhood women named him Obed, but they called him “Naomi's Boy.”

When Obed grew up he had a son named Jesse, who later became the father of King David.

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Footnotes

  1. 4.14,15 We pray that … famous … 15 He will: Or “We pray that the Lord will be praised everywhere in Israel. 15 Your grandson will.”

Naomi Gains a Son

13 So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When he made love to her, the Lord enabled her to conceive,(A) and she gave birth to a son.(B) 14 The women(C) said to Naomi: “Praise be to the Lord,(D) who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer.(E) May he become famous throughout Israel! 15 He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law,(F) who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons,(G) has given him birth.”

16 Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him. 17 The women living there said, “Naomi has a son!” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse,(H) the father of David.(I)

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