1:1 It happened in the days when the judges judged, that there was a famine in the land. A certain man of Bethlehem Judah went to live in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.
1:2 The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem Judah. They came into the country of Moab, and continued there.
1:3 Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left, and her two sons.
1:4 They took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they lived there about ten years.
1:5 Mahlon and Chilion both died, and the woman was bereaved of her two children and of her husband.
1:6 Then she arose with her daughters-in-law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that Yahweh had visited his people in giving them bread.
1:7 She went forth out of 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.
1:8 Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each of you to her mother’s house: Yahweh deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead, and with me.
1:9 Yahweh grant you that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband.” Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voice, and wept.
1:10 They said to her, “No, but we will return with you to your people.”
1:11 Naomi said, “Go back, my daughters. Why do you want to go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands?
1:12 Go back, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say, ‘I have hope,’ if I should even have a husband tonight, and should also bear sons;
1:13 would you then wait until they were grown? Would you then refrain from having husbands? No, my daughters, for it grieves me much for your sakes, for the hand of Yahweh has gone out against me.”
1:14 They lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth joined with her.
1:15 She said, “Behold, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people, and to her god. Follow your sister-in-law.”
1:16 Ruth said, “Don’t entreat me to leave you, and to return from following after you, for where you go, I will go; and where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God;
1:17 where you die, will I die, and there will I be buried. Yahweh do so to me, and more also, if anything but death part you and me.”
1:18 When she saw that she was steadfastly minded to go with her, she left off speaking to her.
1:19 So they two went until they came to Bethlehem. It happened, when they had come to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about them, and they asked, “Is this Naomi?”
1:20 She said to them, “Don’t call me Naomi. Call me Mara; for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.
1:21 I went out full, and Yahweh has brought me home again empty; why do you call me Naomi, since Yahweh has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?”
1:22 So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her, who returned out of the country of Moab: and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest.
2:1 Naomi had a kinsman of her husband’s, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz.
2:2 Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Let me now go to the field, and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor.” She said to her, “Go, my daughter.”
2:3 She went, and came and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and she happened to come to the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.
2:4 Behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said to the reapers, “Yahweh be with you.” They answered him, “Yahweh bless you.”
2:5 Then Boaz said to his servant who was set over the reapers, “Whose young lady is this?”
2:6 The servant who was set over the reapers answered, “It is the Moabite lady who came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab.
2:7 She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.’ So she came, and has continued even from the morning until now, except that she stayed a little in the house.”
2:8 Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter. Don’t go to glean in another field, and don’t go from here, but stay here close to my maidens.
2:9 Let your eyes be on the field that they reap, and go after them. Haven’t I commanded the young men not to touch you? When you are thirsty, go to the vessels, and drink from that which the young men have drawn.”
2:10 Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your sight, that you should take knowledge of me, since I am a foreigner?”
2:11 Boaz answered her, “It has fully been shown me, all that you have done to your mother-in-law since the death of your husband; and how you have left your father and your mother, and the land of your birth, and have come to a people that you didn’t know before.
2:12 May Yahweh repay your work, and a full reward be given you from Yahweh, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”
2:13 Then she said, “Let me find favor in your sight, my lord, because you have comforted me, and because you have spoken kindly to your handmaid, though I am not as one of your handmaidens.”
2:14 At meal time Boaz said to her, “Come here, and eat of the bread, and dip your morsel in the vinegar.” She sat beside the reapers, and they reached her parched grain, and she ate, and was satisfied, and left some of it.
2:15 When she had risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and don’t reproach her.
2:16 Also pull out some for her from the bundles, and leave it, and let her glean, and don’t rebuke her.”
2:17 So she gleaned in the field until evening; and she beat out that which she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley.
2:18 She took it up, and went into the city; and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned: and she brought out and gave to her that which she had left after she was sufficed.
2:19 Her mother-in-law said to her, “Where have you gleaned today? Where have you worked? Blessed be he who noticed you.” She showed her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, and said, “The man’s name with whom I worked today is Boaz.”
2:20 Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “Blessed be he of Yahweh, who has not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead.” Naomi said to her, “The man is a close relative to us, one of our near kinsmen.”
2:21 Ruth the Moabitess said, “Yes, he said to me, ‘You shall stay close to my young men, until they have ended all my harvest.’”
2:22 Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his maidens, and that they not meet you in any other field.”
2:23 So she stayed close to the maidens of Boaz, to glean to the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest; and she lived with her mother-in-law.