⁴ Later, when Boaz arrived from Bethlehem, he said to the harvesters, “The Lord be with you.”^(A)

“The Lord bless you,”^(B) they replied.

⁵ Boaz asked his servant who was in charge of the harvesters, “Whose young woman is this?”

⁶ The servant answered, “She is the young Moabite woman who returned with Naomi from the territory of Moab. ⁷ She asked, ‘Will you let me gather fallen grain among the bundles behind the harvesters?’ She came and has been on her feet since early morning, except that she rested a little in the shelter.”^[a]

⁸ Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter.^[b] Don’t go and gather grain in another field, and don’t leave this one, but stay here close to my female servants. ⁹ See which field they are harvesting, and follow them. Haven’t I ordered the young men not to touch you? When you are thirsty, go and drink from the jars the young men have filled.”

¹⁰ She fell facedown, bowed to the ground,^(C) and said to him, “Why have I found favor with you, so that you notice me, although I am a foreigner?”

¹¹ Boaz answered her, “Everything you have done for your mother-in-law since your husband’s death has been fully reported to me: how you left your father and mother and your native land, and how you came to a people you didn’t previously know. ¹² May the Lord reward you for what you have done,^(D) and may you receive a full reward from the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge.”^(E)

¹³ “My lord,” she said, “I have found favor with you, for you have comforted and encouraged your servant, although I am not like one of your female servants.”

¹⁴ At mealtime Boaz told her, “Come over here and have some bread and dip it in the vinegar sauce.” So she sat beside the harvesters, and he offered her roasted grain. She ate and was satisfied and had some left over.

¹⁵ When she got up to gather grain, Boaz ordered his young men, “Let her even gather grain among the bundles, and don’t humiliate her. ¹⁶ Pull out some stalks from the bundles for her and leave them for her to gather. Don’t rebuke her.” ¹⁷ So Ruth gathered grain in the field until evening. She beat out what she had gathered, and it was about twenty-six quarts^[c] of barley.

⁹ “When you reap the harvest of your land, you are not to reap to the very edge of your field or gather the gleanings^(A) of your harvest. ¹⁰ Do not strip your vineyard bare or gather its fallen grapes. Leave them for the poor^(B) and the resident alien;^(C) I am the Lord your God.

³⁵ “‘For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; ³⁶ I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you took care of me; I was in prison and you visited me.’^(A)

³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and take you in, or without clothes and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you sick, or in prison, and visit you?’

⁴⁰ “And the King will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’^(B)

⁴¹ “Then he will also say to those on the left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels!^{(C) 42} For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink; ⁴³ I was a stranger and you didn’t take me in; I was naked and you didn’t clothe me, sick and in prison and you didn’t take care of me.’

⁴⁴ “Then they too will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or without clothes, or sick, or in prison, and not help you?’

⁴⁵ “Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’^(D)

⁴⁶ “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”^(E)