¹⁸ She picked up the grain and went into the town, where her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She brought out what she had left over from her meal and gave it to her.

¹⁹ Her mother-in-law said to her, “Where did you gather barley today, and where did you work? May the Lord bless the man who noticed you.”^(A)

Ruth told her mother-in-law whom she had worked with and said, “The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz.”

²⁰ Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May the Lord^(B) bless him because he has not abandoned his kindness to the living or the dead.”^(C) Naomi continued, “The man is a close relative. He is one of our family redeemers.”^(D)

²¹ Ruth the Moabitess said, “He also told me, ‘Stay with my young men until they have finished all of my harvest.’”

²² So Naomi said to her daughter-in-law Ruth, “My daughter, it is good for you to work^[a] with his female servants, so that nothing will happen to you in another field.” ²³ Ruth stayed close to Boaz’s female servants and gathered grain until the barley and the wheat harvests were finished.^(E) And she lived with^[b] her mother-in-law.

Preserving the Family Line

⁵ “When brothers live on the same property^[a] and one of them dies without a son, the wife of the dead man may not marry a stranger outside the family. Her brother-in-law is to take her as his wife, have sexual relations with her, and perform the duty of a brother-in-law for her. ⁶ The first son she bears will carry on the name of the dead brother, so his name will not be blotted out from Israel.^{(A) 7} But if the man doesn’t want to marry his sister-in-law, she is to go to the elders at the city gate^(B) and say, ‘My brother-in-law refuses to preserve his brother’s name in Israel. He isn’t willing to perform the duty of a brother-in-law for me.’ ⁸ The elders of his city will summon him and speak with him. If he persists and says, ‘I don’t want to marry her,’ ⁹ then his sister-in-law will go up to him in the sight of the elders, remove his sandal from his foot, and spit in his face. Then she will declare, ‘This is what is done to a man who will not build up his brother’s house.’ ¹⁰ And his family name in Israel will be ‘The house of the man whose sandal was removed.’^(C)

Psalm 41

Victory in spite of Betrayal

For the choir director. A psalm of David.

⁹ Let us not get tired^(A) of doing good,^(B) for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up. ¹⁰ Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us work^(C) for the good^(D) of all, especially for those who belong to the household^(E) of faith.^(F)