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. |
7131 | RUT 1:2 | His name was Elimelech and his wife’s was Naomi, and his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. After they had been living in Moab for some time, |
7132 | RUT 1:3 | Elimelech died, and Naomi was left with her two sons, |
7133 | RUT 1:4 | who married Moabite women named Orpah and Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, |
7134 | RUT 1:5 | Mahlon and Chilion both died, and Naomi was left alone, without husband or sons. |
7135 | RUT 1:6 | So she set out with her daughters-in-law to return from the land of Moab, for she had heard that the Lord had remembered his people and given them food. |
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 |
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, |
7142 | RUT 1:13 | would you wait for them until they were grown up? Would you remain single for them? No, my daughters! My heart grieves for you, for the Lord has sent me adversity.” |
7146 | RUT 1:17 | I will die where you die, and be buried there. May the Lord bring a curse upon me, if anything but death separate you and me.” |
7149 | RUT 1:20 | “Do not call me Naomi,” she said to them, “call me Mara, for the Almighty has given me a bitter lot. |
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?” |
7151 | RUT 1:22 | So Naomi and Ruth, her Moabite daughter-in-law, returned from Moab. They reached Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest. |
7152 | RUT 2:1 | Now Naomi was related through her husband to a very wealthy man of the family of Elimelech named Boaz. |
7153 | RUT 2:2 | Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me now go into the fields and gather leftover grain behind anyone who will allow me.” “Go, my daughter,” she replied. |
7154 | RUT 2:3 | So she went to glean in the field after the reapers. As it happened, she was in that part of the field which belonged to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech. |
7155 | RUT 2:4 | When Boaz came from Bethlehem and said to the reapers, “The Lord be with you,” they answered him, “May the Lord bless you.” |
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.” |
7159 | RUT 2:8 | Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter. Do not go to glean in another field nor leave this place, but stay here with my girls. |
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.” |
7165 | RUT 2:14 | At mealtime Boaz said to Ruth, “Come here and eat some of the food and dip your piece of bread in the vinegar.” So she sat beside the reapers, and he passed her some roasted grain. She ate until she was satisfied and had some left. |
7167 | RUT 2:16 | Also pull out some for her from the bundles and leave for her to glean, and do not find fault with her.” |
7168 | RUT 2:17 | So she gleaned in the field until evening, then beat out what she had gleaned. It was about a bushel of barley. |
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.” |
7173 | RUT 2:22 | Naomi said to Ruth, “It is best, my daughter, that you should go out with his girls because you might not be as safe in another field.” |
7174 | RUT 2:23 | So she gleaned with the girls of Boaz until the end of the barley and wheat harvest; but she lived with her mother-in-law. |
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? |
7176 | RUT 3:2 | Is not Boaz, with whose girls you have been, a relative of ours? |
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.” |
7180 | RUT 3:6 | So she went down to the threshing-floor and did just as her mother-in-law told her. |
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. |
7182 | RUT 3:8 | At midnight the man was startled and turned over, and there was a woman lying at his feet! |
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.” |
7184 | RUT 3:10 | He said, “May you be blest by the Lord, my daughter. You have shown me greater favor now than at first, for you have not followed young men, whether poor or rich. |
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 recognize her, for Boaz said, “No one must know that a woman came to the threshing-floor.” |