Ruth 2

Gleaning in the Field of a Kinsman

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Ruth Gleans in the Field of Boaz

2:1Naomi had a man who was an acquaintance of her husband. The man was mighty in strength, from Abimelech’s kindred, and his name was Boaz.

2:2Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go, then, to a field and gather among the ears of grain behind someone in whose eyes I find favor.” She said to her, “Go, daughter.”

2:3She went and gleaned in the field behind the reapers. By chance she came upon the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was from Abimelech’s kindred.

Boaz Asks Whose Young Woman She Is

2:4Look, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said to the reapers, “The Lord be with you.” They said to him, “May the Lord bless you.”

2:5Boaz said to his servant who was set over the reapers, “Whose young woman is this?”

2:6The servant set over the reapers answered and said, “She is the Moabite girl who returned with Naomi from the field of Moab

2:7and said, ‘Let me glean, then, and gather among the sheaves behind the reapers.’ She came and stood from morning until evening; she did not rest in the field even a little.”

Boaz Shows Her Favor

2:8Boaz said to Ruth, “Have you not heard, daughter? Do not go to glean in another field, and you shall not go away from here. Stay close here with my girls.

2:9Keep your eyes on the field wherever they reap, and follow them. Look, I have commanded the servants not to touch you. Whenever you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from where the servants draw water.”

2:10She fell on her face and bowed upon the ground. She said to him, “Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should recognize me? I am a foreign woman.”

2:11Boaz answered and said to her, “All you have done with your mother-in-law after your husband died has been fully reported to me, and how you left your father, your mother, and the land of your birth, and came to a people whom you did not know before.

2:12May the Lord repay your work, and may your reward be full from the Lord, the God of Israel, to whom you have come to trust under His wings.”

2:13She said, “May I find favor in your eyes, sir, for you have comforted me and spoken to the heart of your slave woman, and look, I shall be like one of your slave girls.”

Grain Left for Her Among the Sheaves

2:14Boaz said to her, “It is already time to eat. Come here, eat some of the bread, and dip your morsel in the vinegar.” Ruth sat beside the reapers, and Boaz heaped barley meal for her. She ate, was filled, and left some over.

2:15She arose to glean, and Boaz commanded his servants, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not put her to shame.

2:16You must indeed carry some for her, and also throw some for her from the heaped-up grain. Leave it, and she shall glean, and you shall not rebuke her.”

2:17She gleaned in the field until evening and beat out what she had gleaned. It was about an oiphi of barley.

Naomi Recognizes the Kinsman

2:18She lifted it and entered the city. Her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. Ruth brought out and gave her what she had left from the food that had filled her.

2:19Her mother-in-law said to her, “Where did you glean today, and where did you work? Blessed be the one who recognized you.” Ruth told her mother-in-law where she had worked and said, “The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz.”

2:20Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “He is blessed by the Lord, for he has not abandoned his mercy toward the living and the dead.” Naomi said to her, “The man is near to us; he is among those who act as our next of kin.”

2:21Ruth said to her mother-in-law, “He also said to me, ‘Stay close with my servants until they have finished the whole harvest that belongs to me.’”

2:22Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It is good, daughter, that you went with his girls, and they will not meet you in another field.”

2:23Ruth stayed close to Boaz’s girls to glean until the harvesting of barley and wheat was finished. She lived with her mother-in-law.

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Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V2 · working draft awaiting specialist review.