The Judges & Ruth

Bo'az answered her, "I've heard the whole story, everything you've done for your mother-in-law since your husband died, including how you left your father and mother and the land you were born in to come to a people about whom you knew nothing beforehand.

May ADONAI reward you for what you've done; may you be rewarded in full by ADONAI the God of Isra'el, under whose wings you have come for refuge."

She said, "My lord, I hope I continue pleasing you. You have comforted and encouraged me, even though I'm not one of your servants."

When meal-time came, Bo'az said to her, "Come here, have something to eat, and dip your piece of bread in the [olive oil and] vinegar." She sat by the reapers, and they passed her some roasted grain. She ate till she was full, and she had some left over.

When she got up to glean, Bo'az ordered his young men, "Let her glean even among the sheaves themselves, without making her feel ashamed.

In fact, pull some ears of grain out from the sheaves on purpose. Leave them for her to glean, and don't rebuke her."

So she gleaned in the field until evening. When she beat out what she had gathered, it came to about a bushel of barley.

She picked it up and went back to the city. Her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned, and Rut brought out and gave her what she had left over after eating her fill.

Her mother-in-law asked her, "Where did you glean today? Where were you working? Blessed be the one who took such good care of you!" She told her mother-in-law with whom she had been working; she said, "The name of the man with whom I was working today is Bo'az."

Na'omi said to her daughter-in-law, "May he be blessed by ADONAI, who has never stopped showing grace, neither to the living nor to the dead." Na'omi also told her, "The man is closely related to us; he's one of our redeeming kinsmen."

Rut the woman from Mo'av said, "Moreover, he even said to me, 'Stay close to my young men until they've finished my harvest.'"

Na'omi said to Rut her daughter-in-law, "It's good, my daughter, for you to keep going out with his girls; so that you won't encounter hostility in some other field."

So she stayed close to Bo'az's girls to glean, until the end of the barley and wheat harvests; and she lived with her mother-in-law.

Na'omi her mother-in-law said to her, "My daughter, I should be seeking security for you; so that things will go well with you.

Now there's Bo'az our relative -you were with his girls. He's going to be winnowing barley tonight at the threshing-floor.

So bathe, anoint yourself, put on your good clothes, and go down to the threshing-floor; but don't reveal your presence to the man until he's finished eating and drinking.

Then, when he lies down, take note of where he's lying; later, go in, uncover his feet, and lie down. He will tell you what to do."

She responded, "I will do everything you tell me."

She went down to the threshing-floor and did everything as her mother-in-law had instructed her.

After Bo'az was through eating and drinking and was feeling good, he went to lie down at the end of the pile of grain. She stole in, uncovered his feet and lay down.

In the middle of the night the man was startled and turned over, and - there was a woman lying at his feet!

He asked, "Who are you?" and she answered, "I'm your handmaid Rut. Spread your robe over your handmaid, because you are a redeeming kinsman."

He said, "May ADONAI bless you, my daughter. Your latest kindness is even greater than your first, in that you didn't go after the young men, neither the rich ones nor the poor.

And now, my daughter, don't be afraid. I will do for you everything you say, for all the city leaders among my people know that you are a woman of good character.

Now, it is true that I am a redeeming kinsman; but there is a redeemer who is a closer relative than I am.