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Ruth’s Reward

The Book of Ruth

Ruth stood on the dusty road with her sister-in-law Orpah and her mother-in-law, Naomi. The women cried together. Naomi, an Israelite, was going back to her home in Bethlehem.

“I will miss you greatly, dear ones,” said Naomi, “but you must return to your mothers’ households.”

Orpah kissed Naomi good-bye, but Ruth would not leave her. Ruth trusted God. “I will go wherever you go,” she told Naomi. “Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.”

 

 

Ruth traveled with Naomi all the way to Bethlehem. They found a place to live. Ruth worked in the barley fields and walked behind the harvest workers, gathering loose stalks of grain that fell on the ground. She took the stalks home, and Naomi baked bread with the grain.

Naomi’s relative Boaz owned the fields. “Who is that young woman?” Boaz asked his workers.

“Her name is Ruth,” they told him. Boaz knew about Ruth’s kindness to Naomi. “Be sure that no one harms Ruth,” he said, “and leave extra grain for her to gather.”

 

 

“How exciting!” said Naomi when she heard about Boaz. She guessed what would happen next. Boaz and Ruth got married! Then they had a baby boy—Obed, grandfather of the great King David.