7130 | RUT 1:1 | In the time when the judges ruled, there was once a famine in the land. A man from Bethlehem in Judah took his wife and two sons to live in the territory of Moab. |
7137 | RUT 1:8 | Naomi said to her daughters-in-law, ‘Go, return both of you to the home of your mother. May the Lord be kind to you as you have been kind to the dead and to me. |
7138 | RUT 1:9 | The Lord grant that each of you may find peace and happiness in the house of a new husband.’ Then she kissed them; but they began to weep aloud |
7140 | RUT 1:11 | But Naomi said, ‘Go back, my daughters. Why should you go with me? Can I still bear sons who might become your husbands? |
7141 | RUT 1:12 | Go back, my daughters, go your own way, because I am too old to have a husband. Even if I should say, “I have hope,” even if I should have a husband tonight and should bear sons, |
7143 | RUT 1:14 | Then they again wept aloud, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth stayed with her. |
7144 | RUT 1:15 | ‘Look,’ said Naomi, ‘your sister-in-law is going back to her own people and to her own gods. Go along with her!’ |
7145 | RUT 1:16 | But Ruth answered, ‘Do not urge me to leave you or to go back. I will go where you go, and I will stay wherever you stay. Your people will be my people, and your God my God; |
7150 | RUT 1:21 | I had plenty when I left, but the Lord has brought me back empty handed. Why should you call me Naomi, now that the Lord has afflicted me, and the Almighty has brought misfortune on me?’ |
7156 | RUT 2:5 | ‘Whose girl is this?’ Boaz asked his servant who had charge of the reapers. |
7157 | RUT 2:6 | The servant who had charge of the reapers replied, ‘It is the Moabite girl who came back with Naomi from the territory of Moab. |
7158 | RUT 2:7 | She asked to be allowed to glean and gather sheaves after the reapers. So she came and has continued to work until now and she has not rested a moment in the field.’ |
7160 | RUT 2:9 | Watch where the men are reaping and follow the gleaners. I have told the young men not to trouble you. When you are thirsty, go to the jars and drink of that which the young men have drawn.’ |
7161 | RUT 2:10 | Then she bowed low and said to him, ‘Why are you so kind to me, to take interest in me when I am just a foreigner?’ |
7162 | RUT 2:11 | Boaz replied, ‘I have heard what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you left your father and mother and your native land to come to a people that you did not know before. |
7163 | RUT 2:12 | May the Lord repay you for what you have done, and may you be fully rewarded by the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.’ |
7164 | RUT 2:13 | Then she said, ‘I trust I may please you, my lord, for you have comforted me and spoken kindly to your servant, although I am not really equal to one of your own servants.’ |
7169 | RUT 2:18 | Then she took it up and went into the town and showed her mother-in-law what she had gleaned. She also brought out and gave her that which she had left from her meal after she had had enough. |
7170 | RUT 2:19 | ‘Where did you glean today, and where did you work?’ asked her mother-in-law. ‘A blessing on him who took notice of you!’ So she told her mother-in-law where she had worked. ‘The name of the man with whom I worked today,’ she said, ‘is Boaz.’ |
7171 | RUT 2:20 | Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, ‘May the blessing of the Lord rest on this man who has not ceased to show his loving-kindness to the living and to the dead. The man,’ she added, ‘is a near relation of ours.’ |
7172 | RUT 2:21 | ‘He told me,’ Ruth said, ‘that I must keep near his young men until they have completed all his harvest.’ |
7175 | RUT 3:1 | One day, Naomi said to Ruth, ‘My daughter, should I not seek to secure a home for you where you will be happy and prosperous? |
7177 | RUT 3:3 | Tonight he is going to winnow barley on the threshing-floor. So bathe and anoint yourself and put on your best clothes and go down to the threshing-floor. But do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. |
7178 | RUT 3:4 | Then when he lies down, mark the place where he lies. Go in, uncover his feet, lie down, and then he will tell you what to do.’ |
7181 | RUT 3:7 | When Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in a happy mood, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. Then Ruth came quietly and uncovered his feet and lay down. |
7183 | RUT 3:9 | ‘Who are you?’ he said. ‘I am Ruth your servant,’ she answered, ‘Spread your cloak over your servant, for you are a near relative.’ |
7185 | RUT 3:11 | My daughter, have no fear. I will do for you all that you ask, for the whole town knows that you are a virtuous woman. |
7187 | RUT 3:13 | Stay here tonight, and then in the morning, if he will perform for you the duty of a kinsman, well, let him do it. But if he will not perform for you the duty of a kinsman, then as surely as the Lord lives, I will do it for you. Lie down until morning.’ |
7188 | RUT 3:14 | So she lay at his feet until morning, but rose before anyone could recognise her, for Boaz said, ‘No one must know that a woman came to the threshing-floor.’ |
7189 | RUT 3:15 | He also said, ‘Bring the cloak which you have on and hold it.’ So she held it while he poured into it six measures of barley and laid it on her shoulders. Then he went into the city. |
7190 | RUT 3:16 | When Ruth came to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked, ‘Is it you, my daughter?’ Then Ruth told Naomi all that the man had done for her. |
7192 | RUT 3:18 | ‘Wait quietly, my daughter.’ Naomi said, ‘Until you know how the affair will turn out, for the man will not rest unless he settles it all today.’ |
7193 | RUT 4:1 | Then Boaz went up to the gate and sat down. Just then the near kinsman of whom Boaz had spoken came along. Boaz said, ‘Hello, So-and-so (calling him by name), come here and sit down.’ So he stopped and sat down. |
7194 | RUT 4:2 | Boaz also took ten of the town elders and said, ‘Sit down here.’ So they sat down. |
7195 | RUT 4:3 | Then he said to the near relative, ‘Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is offering for sale the piece of land which belonged to our relative Elimelech, |
7196 | RUT 4:4 | and I thought that I would lay the matter before you, suggesting that you buy it in the presence of these men who sit here and of the elders of my people. If you will buy it and so keep it in the possession of the family, do so; but if not; then tell me, so that I may know; for no one but you has the right to buy it, and I am next to you.’ ‘I will buy it,’ he said. |
7198 | RUT 4:6 | ‘I cannot buy it for myself without spoiling my own inheritance,’ the near relative said. ‘You take my right of buying it as a relative, because I cannot do so.’ |
7199 | RUT 4:7 | Now this used to be the custom in Israel: to make valid anything relating to a matter of redemption or exchange, a man drew off his sandal and gave it to the other man; and this was the way contracts were attested in Israel. |
7203 | RUT 4:11 | Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, ‘We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your house like Rachel and Leah, who together built the house of Israel. May you do well in Ephrata, and become famous in Bethlehem. |
7204 | RUT 4:12 | From the children whom the Lord will give you by this young woman may your household become like the household of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah.’ |
7208 | RUT 4:16 | So Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him as if he was her own. |
12709 | EST 1:3 | In the third year of his reign, the king gave a feast for all his officers and courtiers. The commanders of the military forces of Persia and Media, the nobles and provincial rulers were present |
12710 | EST 1:4 | while for one hundred and eighty days he showed them the glorious riches of his kingdom and the costliness of his magnificent regalia. |
12711 | EST 1:5 | When these days were ended, the king held a banquet for all the people who were present in the royal palace at Susa, high and low alike. It was a seven days’ feast in the enclosed garden of the royal palace. |
12712 | EST 1:6 | There were white and violet cotton curtains fastened to silver rings and pillars of marble with cords of fine purple wool and linen. The couches were of gold and silver placed upon a mosaic pavement of alabaster, white marble, mother-of-pearl, and dark stone. |
12713 | EST 1:7 | Drink was brought in vessels of gold – which were all different – and the king’s wine was provided with royal liberality. |
12714 | EST 1:8 | The drinking was unrestricted, for the king had directed all the officers of his household to let each man do as he pleased. |
12716 | EST 1:10 | On the seventh day, when the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zathar and Carkas, his seven eunuch attendants |
12718 | EST 1:12 | But Queen Vashti refused to come as the king commanded through the eunuchs. Then the king became very angry and his fury burned within him. |
12719 | EST 1:13 | The king turned to the wise men who knew the precedents, for it was his custom to confer with those wise in law. |
12720 | EST 1:14 | Those next to him were Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena and Memucan, seven officials of Persia and Media who had access to the king and were highest in the kingdom. |
12721 | EST 1:15 | ‘Queen Vashti’, the king said, ‘has failed to obey my royal command – the command of King Ahasuerus conveyed through the eunuchs! What does the law say should be done to her?’ |
12722 | EST 1:16 | Memucan replied before the king and the officials, ‘Queen Vashti has done wrong not only to the king but also to all the officials and to all the peoples in all of the king’s provinces. |
12723 | EST 1:17 | The refusal of the queen will be reported to all the women with the result that it will make them despise their husbands. They will say, “King Ahasuerus commanded Queen Vashti to be brought in before him, but she did not come!” |
12724 | EST 1:18 | This very day the ladies of Persia and Media who have heard of the refusal of the queen will tell it to all the king’s officials, and there will be contempt and strife! |
12725 | EST 1:19 | If it seems best to the king, let him send out a royal edict. Let it be written among the laws of Persia and Media, never to be repealed, that Vashti may never again come before King Ahasuerus. Let the king give her place as queen to another who is more worthy than she. |
12726 | EST 1:20 | When the king’s decree which he makes is heard throughout his kingdom – great as it is – the wives of all classes will give honour to their husbands.’ |
12727 | EST 1:21 | The proposal pleased the king and the officials, and the king did as Memucan advised. |
12730 | EST 2:2 | Then the king’s servants who waited upon him said, ‘Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king, |
12731 | EST 2:3 | and let the king appoint commissioners to all the provinces of his kingdom to gather them all to Susa the royal residence. Let them be brought into the women’s quarters under the custody of Hegai, the king’s eunuch, who has charge of the women. Then give them what is needed to make them beautiful, |
12732 | EST 2:4 | and let the girl who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.’ The proposal pleased the king so he put it into action. |
12734 | EST 2:6 | (Kish had been carried away from Jerusalem with the exiles who were deported with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon took captive.) |
12736 | EST 2:8 | When the king’s command and decree were known, many girls were gathered together to Susa the capital under the custody of Hegai. Esther was also taken into the king’s palace and placed under the custody of Hegai, who had charge of the women. |
12737 | EST 2:9 | The girl pleased him and gained his favour, so that he quickly gave her the cosmetics she needed to enhance her beauty and her allowance of food and the seven maids selected from the king’s household. He also transferred her and her maids to the best place in the harem. |
12738 | EST 2:10 | Esther had not revealed her people nor her family background because Mordecai had ordered her not to. |
12739 | EST 2:11 | Every day Mordecai would to walk in front of the courtyard of the harem and ask after Esther’s health and what was happening to her. |
12741 | EST 2:13 | each girl went in to the king. She was allowed to take with her whatever she wished from the women’s quarters, |
12742 | EST 2:14 | and would enter the palace in the evening and return the next morning to another part of the harem under the care of the king’s eunuch Shaashgaz who was in charge of concubines. She would not go to the king again unless he desired her and summoned her by name. |
12743 | EST 2:15 | When it was the turn of Esther (the girl adopted by Mordecai, daughter of his uncle Abihail) to go in to the king, she only took with her those things that Hegai, the king’s eunuch in charge of the women, had advised her to take. Esther was liked by all who saw her. |