Ruth

Chapter 1

1 And it came to pass, in the days when the judges judged, that there was a famine in the land, and a man went from Bethlehem of Judah to sojourn in the field of Moab, he and his wife and his sons.

2 And the man's name was Abimelech, and his wife's name Noemin, and the names of his two sons Maalon and Chelaion, Ephrathites from Bethlehem of Judah; and they came into the field of Moab and were there.

3 And Abimelech, the husband of Noemin, died, and she was left, she and her two sons.

4 And they took for themselves Moabite wives, the name of the one Orpha, and the name of the second Ruth; and they dwelt there about ten years.

5 And both of them also died, Maalon and Chelaion, and the woman was left of her husband and of her two sons.

6 And she arose, she and her two daughters-in-law, and returned from the field of Moab, for they had heard in the field of Moab that the Lord had visited his people to give them bread.

7 And she went out from the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her; and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah.

8 And Noemin said to her daughters-in-law, "Go now, return each to her mother's house; may the Lord deal mercifully with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me;

9 may the Lord grant you that you may find rest, each in the house of her husband." And she kissed them, and they lifted up their voice and wept.

10 And they said to her, "We will return with you to your people."

11 And Noemin said, "Turn back now, my daughters; and why would you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb, that they may become your husbands?

12 Turn back now, my daughters, for I have grown too old to be with a husband; for if I said that I have hope of being with a husband and shall bear sons,

13 would you wait for them until they were grown? Or would you be kept for them, so as not to belong to a husband? No, my daughters, for it is very bitter to me on your account, that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me."

14 And they lifted up their voice and wept again; and Orpha kissed her mother-in-law and returned to her people, but Ruth followed her.

15 And Noemin said to Ruth, "Behold, your sister-in-law has returned to her people and to her gods; return now, you also, after your sister-in-law."

16 But Ruth said, "Let it not befall me to leave you or to turn back from following you; for wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God;

17 and wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried; the Lord do so to me and more also, if anything but death parts me and you."

18 And when Noemin saw that she was determined to go with her, she ceased to speak to her any more.

19 And they both went until they came to Bethlehem. And all the city resounded over them, and they said, "Is this Noemin?"

20 And she said to them, "Do not call me Noemin; call me Bitter, for the Mighty One has dealt very bitterly with me;

21 I went out full, and the Lord has brought me back empty; and why do you call me Noemin? For the Lord has humbled me, and the Mighty One has afflicted me."

22 So Noemin returned, and Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, with her, returning from the field of Moab; and they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.

Chapter 2

1 And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a man mighty in strength, of the family of Abimelech, and his name was Boaz.

2 And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, "Let me go now to the field and gather among the ears of grain behind whoever in whose eyes I may find favor." And she said to her, "Go, daughter."

3 And she went and gleaned in the field behind the reapers; and she chanced by chance upon the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Abimelech.

4 And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said to the reapers, "The Lord be with you." And they said to him, "May the Lord bless you."

5 And Boaz said to his servant who was set over the reapers, "Whose is this young woman?"

6 And the servant who was set over the reapers answered and said, "She is the Moabite girl who returned with Naomi from the country of Moab,

7 and she said, 'Let me glean now and gather among the sheaves behind the reapers'; and she came and has stood from morning until evening; she has not rested even a little in the field."

8 And Boaz said to Ruth, "Have you not heard, daughter? Do not go to glean in another field, and do not depart from here; cleave here to my maidens.

9 Let your eyes be on the field where they reap, and go behind them; behold, I have commanded the young men not to touch you; and when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from where the young men draw water."

10 And she fell on her face and bowed down to the ground and said to him, "Why is it that I have found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me? For I am a foreigner."

11 And Boaz answered and said to her, "It has been fully told me all that you have done with your mother-in-law after the death of your husband, and how you left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and came to a people whom you did not know before.

12 May the Lord repay your work, and may your reward be full from the Lord God of Israel, to whom you have come to trust under his wings."

13 And she said, "May I find favor in your eyes, my lord, for you have comforted me, and you have spoken to the heart of your servant; and behold, I shall be as one of your maidservants."

14 And Boaz said to her, "It is now time to eat; come here and eat of the bread, and dip your morsel in the vinegar." And Ruth sat beside the reapers, and Boaz heaped up parched grain for her, and she ate and was satisfied and left some over.

15 And she rose up to glean, and Boaz commanded his young men, saying, "Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not put her to shame;

16 and also carry some out for her, and cast some out for her from the heaps, and leave it, and she shall glean, and you shall not rebuke her."

17 And she gleaned in the field until evening; and she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley.

18 And she took it up and went into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned; and Ruth brought out and gave her what she had left over after she was satisfied.

19 And her mother-in-law said to her, "Where did you glean today, and where did you work? Blessed be he who took notice of you." And Ruth told her mother-in-law where she had worked, and said, "The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz."

20 And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, "Blessed is he of the Lord, because he has not forsaken his mercy with the living and with the dead." And Naomi said to her, "The man is near of kin to us; he is one of those who have the right of redemption over us."

21 And Ruth said to her mother-in-law, "Indeed, he also said to me, 'Cleave to my young men until they have finished all the harvest that belongs to me.'"

22 And Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, "It is good, daughter, that you went out with his maidens, so that they will not meet you in another field."

23 And Ruth cleaved to the maidens of Boaz to glean until the barley harvest and the wheat harvest were finished. And she dwelt with her mother-in-law.

Chapter 3

1 And Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, "Daughter, shall I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you?

2 And now, is not Boaz our kinsman, with whose young women you were? Behold, he is winnowing the threshing floor of barley this very night.

3 So wash yourself and anoint yourself and put your clothing upon yourself and go down to the threshing floor; do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished drinking and eating.

4 And it shall be, when he lies down, you shall take note of the place where he lies, and you shall go and uncover the place at his feet and lie down, and he will tell you what you shall do."

5 And Ruth said to her, "All that you say, I will do."

6 And she went down to the threshing floor and did according to all that her mother-in-law commanded her.

7 And Boaz ate, and his heart was glad, and he went to lie down at the edge of the heap of grain; and she came secretly and uncovered the place at his feet.

8 And it came to pass at midnight that the man was startled and troubled, and behold, a woman was lying at his feet.

9 And he said, "Who are you?" And she said, "I am Ruth your servant; spread your wing over your servant, for you are a kinsman-redeemer."

10 And Boaz said, "Blessed are you by the Lord God, daughter, for you have made your latter kindness greater than the first, in not going after young men, whether poor or rich.

11 And now, daughter, do not fear; all that you say, I will do for you; for all the tribe of my people knows that you are a woman of worth,

12 and that truly I am a kinsman-redeemer; yet there is a kinsman-redeemer nearer than I.

13 Lodge here tonight, and it shall be in the morning: if he will redeem you, good, let him redeem; but if he is not willing to redeem you, I will redeem you, as the Lord lives. Lie down until morning."

14 And she lay at his feet until morning. And she rose before a man could recognize his neighbor; and Boaz said, "Let it not be known that a woman came to the threshing floor."

15 And he said to her, "Bring the wrap that is upon you." And she held it, and he measured out six measures of barley and laid it upon her; and he went into the city.

16 And Ruth went in to her mother-in-law, and she said, "Who are you, daughter?" And she told her all that the man had done for her.

17 And she said to her, "These six measures of barley he gave me, for he said to me, 'Do not go in empty to your mother-in-law.'"

18 And she said, "Sit still, daughter, until you know how the matter will fall; for the man will not rest until he has finished the matter today."

Chapter 4

1 And Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there, and behold, the kinsman-redeemer of whom Boaz had spoken was passing by. And Boaz said to him, "Turn aside and sit here, friend." And he turned aside and sat down.

2 And Boaz took ten men from the elders of the city and said, "Sit down here." And they sat down.

3 And Boaz said to the kinsman, "The portion of the field which belongs to our brother Abimelech, which has been given to Naomi, who has returned from the country of Moab.

4 and I said, I will uncover your ear, saying, Acquire it before those who sit here and before the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it; but if you will not redeem it, tell me, and I shall know; for there is no one besides you to redeem it, and I am after you." And he said, "I am he; I will redeem it."

5 And Boaz said, "On the day you acquire the field from the hand of Naomi and from Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead man, you must also acquire her, so as to raise up the name of the dead man upon his inheritance."

6 And the kinsman said, "I shall not be able to redeem it for myself, lest I ruin my own inheritance. Redeem for yourself my right of redemption, for I shall not be able to redeem it."

7 Now this was the custom formerly in Israel concerning redemption and concerning exchange, to confirm every matter: a man would take off his sandal and give it to his neighbor who was redeeming his right of redemption, and this was a testimony in Israel.

8 And the kinsman said to Boaz, "Acquire for yourself my right of redemption." And he took off his sandal and gave it to him.

9 And Boaz said to the elders and to all the people, "You are witnesses today that I have acquired all that belonged to Abimelech and all that belongs to Chilion and to Mahlon from the hand of Naomi;

10 and moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, I have acquired for myself as a wife, to raise up the name of the dead man upon his inheritance, so that the name of the dead man may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the tribe of his people. You are witnesses today."

11 And all the people who were in the gate said, "Witnesses." And the elders said, "May the Lord grant that your wife who is entering your house be like Rachel and like Leah, who both built the house of Israel and did mightily in Ephrathah, and may there be a name in Bethlehem;

12 and may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, from the seed which the Lord will give you from this young woman."

13 And Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife, and he went in to her, and the Lord gave her conception, and she bore a son.

14 And the women said to Naomi, "Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you today without a kinsman-redeemer; and may your name be called in Israel;

15 and he shall be to you a restorer of life and one to nourish your gray hairs, for your daughter-in-law who loves you has borne him, she who is better to you than seven sons."

16 And Naomi took the child and laid him in her bosom and became a nurse to him.

17 And the neighbor women gave him a name, saying, "A son has been born to Naomi"; and they called his name Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

18 And these are the generations of Perez: Perez begot Hezron,

19 and Hezron begot Ram, and Ram begot Amminadab,

20 and Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon,

21 and Salmon begot Boaz, and Boaz begot Obed,

22 and Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David.