Naomi Loses Her Husband and Sons
1In the days when the judges ruled,1a there was a famine in the land.b So a man from Bethlehem in Judah,c together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a whiled in the country of Moab.e 2The man’s name was Elimelek,f his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion.g They were Ephrathitesh from Bethlehem,i Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.
3Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4They married Moabite women,j one named Orpah and the other Ruth.k After they had lived there about ten years, 5both Mahlon and Kilionl also died,m and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.
Naomi and Ruth Return to Bethlehem
6When Naomi heard in Moabn that the LORD had come to the aid of his peopleo by providing foodp for them, she and her daughters-in-lawq prepared to return home from there. 7With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.
8Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home.r May the LORD show you kindness,s as you have shown kindness to your dead husbandst and to me. 9May the LORD grant that each of you will find restu in the home of another husband.”
Then she kissedv them goodbye and they wept aloudw 10and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.”
11But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands?x 12Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons— 13would you wait until they grew up?y Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitterz for me than for you, because the LORD’s hand has turned against me!a”
14At this they weptb aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-lawc goodbye,d but Ruth clung to her.e
15“Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-lawf is going back to her people and her gods.g Go back with her.”
16But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave youh or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go,i and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my peoplej and your God my God.k 17Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely,l if even death separates you and me.”m 18When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.n
19So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem.o When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirredp because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”
20“Don’t call me Naomi,2” she told them. “Call me Mara,3 because the Almighty4q has made my life very bitter.r 21I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty.s Why call me Naomi? The LORD has afflicted5 me;t the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”
22So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite,u her daughter-in-law,v arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvestw was beginning.x
Ruth Meets Boaz in the Grain Field
1Now Naomi had a relativea on her husband’s side, a man of standingb from the clan of Elimelek,c whose name was Boaz.d Photo
2And Ruth the Moabitee said to Naomi, “Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grainf behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor.g”
Naomi said to her, “Go ahead, my daughter.” 3So she went out, entered a field and began to glean behind the harvesters.h As it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek.i
4Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, “The LORD be with you!j”
“The LORD bless you!k” they answered.
5Boaz asked the overseer of his harvesters, “Who does that young woman belong to?”
6The overseer replied, “She is the Moabitel who came back from Moab with Naomi. 7She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheavesm behind the harvesters.’ She came into the field and has remained here from morning till now, except for a short restn in the shelter.”
8So Boaz said to Ruth, “My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another field and don’t go away from here. Stay here with the women who work for me. 9Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the women. I have told the men not to lay a hand on you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.”
10At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground.o She asked him, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice mep—a foreigner?q”
11Boaz replied, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-lawr since the death of your husbands—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not knowt before.u 12May the LORD repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the LORD,v the God of Israel,w under whose wingsx you have come to take refuge.y”
13“May I continue to find favor in your eyes,z my lord,” she said. “You have put me at ease by speaking kindly to your servant—though I do not have the standing of one of your servants.”
14At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come over here. Have some breada and dip it in the wine vinegar.”
When she sat down with the harvesters,b he offered her some roasted grain.c She ate all she wanted and had some left over.d 15As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, “Let her gather among the sheavese and don’t reprimand her. 16Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don’t rebukef her.”
17So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshedg the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah.1h 18She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left overi after she had eaten enough.
19Her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!j”
Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. “The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz,” she said.
20“The LORD bless him!k” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law.l “He has not stopped showing his kindnessm to the living and the dead.” She added, “That man is our close relative;n he is one of our guardian-redeemers.2o”
21Then Ruth the Moabitep said, “He even said to me, ‘Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain.’ ”
22Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with the women who work for him, because in someone else’s field you might be harmed.”
23So Ruth stayed close to the women of Boaz to glean until the barleyq and wheat harvestsr were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.
Ruth and Boaz at the Threshing Floor
1One day Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomia said to her, “My daughter, I must find a home1b for you, where you will be well provided for. 2Now Boaz, with whose women you have worked, is a relativec of ours. Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor.d 3Wash,e put on perfume,f and get dressed in your best clothes.g Then go down to the threshing floor, but don’t let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking.h 4When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do.”
5“I will do whatever you say,”i Ruth answered. 6So she went down to the threshing floorj and did everything her mother-in-law told her to do.
7When Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits,k he went over to lie down at the far end of the grain pile.l Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down. 8In the middle of the night something startled the man; he turned—and there was a woman lying at his feet!
9“Who are you?” he asked.
“I am your servant Ruth,” she said. “Spread the corner of your garmentm over me, since you are a guardian-redeemer2n of our family.”
10“The LORD bless you,o my daughter,” he replied. “This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier:p You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor. 11And now, my daughter, don’t be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. All the people of my town know that you are a woman of noble character.q 12Although it is true that I am a guardian-redeemer of our family,r there is another who is more closely related thans I. 13Stay here for the night, and in the morning if he wants to do his duty as your guardian-redeemer,t good; let him redeem you. But if he is not willing, as surely as the LORD livesu I will do it.v Lie here until morning.”
14So she lay at his feet until morning, but got up before anyone could be recognized; and he said, “No one must know that a woman came to the threshing floor.w”x
15He also said, “Bring me the shawly you are wearing and hold it out.” When she did so, he poured into it six measures of barley and placed the bundle on her. Then he3 went back to town.
16When Ruth came to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked, “How did it go, my daughter?”
Then she told her everything Boaz had done for her 17and added, “He gave me these six measures of barley, saying, ‘Don’t go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’ ”
18Then Naomi said, “Wait, my daughter, until you find out what happens. For the man will not rest until the matter is settled today.”z
Boaz Marries Ruth
1Meanwhile Boaz went up to the town gatea and sat down there just as the guardian-redeemer1b he had mentionedc came along. Boaz said, “Come over here, my friend, and sit down.” So he went over and sat down. Photo
2Boaz took ten of the eldersd of the town and said, “Sit here,” and they did so.e 3Then he said to the guardian-redeemer, “Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our relative Elimelek.f 4I thought I should bring the matter to your attention and suggest that you buy it in the presence of these seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, do so. But if you2 will not, tell me, so I will know. For no one has the right to do it except you,g and I am next in line.”
“I will redeem it,” he said.
5Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the land from Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite,h the3 dead man’s widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property.”i
6At this, the guardian-redeemer said, “Then I cannot redeemj it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it.”k
7(Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemptionl and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandalm and gave it to the other. This was the method of legalizing transactionsn in Israel.)o
8So the guardian-redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it yourself.” And he removed his sandal.p
9Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, “Today you are witnessesq that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelek, Kilion and Mahlon. 10I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite,r Mahlon’s widow, as my wife,s in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from his hometown.t Today you are witnesses!u”
11Then the elders and all the people at the gatev said, “We are witnesses.w May the LORD make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah,x who together built up the family of Israel. May you have standing in Ephrathahy and be famous in Bethlehem.z 12Through the offspring the LORD gives you by this young woman, may your family be like that of Perez,a whom Tamarb bore to Judah.”
Naomi Gains a Son
13So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When he made love to her, the LORD enabled her to conceive,c and she gave birth to a son.d 14The womene said to Naomi: “Praise be to the LORD,f who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer.g May he become famous throughout Israel! 15He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law,h who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons,i has given him birth.”
16Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him. 17The women living there said, “Naomi has a son!” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse,j the father of David.k
The Genealogy of David
4:18-22pp — 1Ch 2:5–15; Mt 1:3–6; Lk 3:31–33