
Ruth

   

   {1:1} It happened in the days when the judges judged, that there was
a famine in the land. A certain man of Bethlehem Judah went to sojourn
in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons. {1:2} The
name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the
name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem
Judah. They came into the country of Moab, and continued there. {1:3}
Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died; and she was left, and her two sons.
{1:4} They took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one
was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they lived there about
ten years. {1:5} Mahlon and Chilion died both of them; and the woman
was left of her two children and of her husband. {1:6} Then she arose
with her daughters-in-law, that she might return from the country of
Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that Yahweh had
visited his people in giving them bread. {1:7} She went forth out of
the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her; and
they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. {1:8} Naomi said
to her two daughters-in-law, Go, return each of you to her mother's
house: Yahweh deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead,
and with me. {1:9} Yahweh grant you that you may find rest, each of you
in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them, and they lifted up
their voice, and wept. {1:10} They said to her, No, but we will return
with you to your people. {1:11} Naomi said, Turn again, my daughters:
why will you go with me? have I yet sons in my womb, that they may be
your husbands? {1:12} Turn again, my daughters, go your way; for I am
too old to have a husband. If I should say, I have hope, if I should
even have a husband tonight, and should also bear sons; {1:13} would
you therefore wait until they were grown? would you therefore stay from
having husbands? nay, my daughters, for it grieves me much for your
sakes, for the hand of Yahweh is gone forth against me. {1:14} They
lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpah kissed her
mother-in-law, but Ruth joined with her. {1:15} She said, Behold, your
sister-in-law is gone back to her people, and to her god: return you
after your sister-in-law. {1:16} Ruth said, "Don't entreat me to leave
you, and to return from following after you, for where you go, I will
go; and where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people,
and your God my God; {1:17} where you die, will I die, and there will I
be buried: Yahweh do so to me, and more also, if anything but death
part you and me." {1:18} When she saw that she was steadfastly minded
to go with her, she left off speaking to her. {1:19} So they two went
until they came to Bethlehem. It happened, when they were come to
Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about them, and [the women]
said, Is this Naomi? {1:20} She said to them, "Don't call me Naomi,
call me Mara; for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. {1:21}
I went out full, and Yahweh has brought me home again empty; why do you
call me Naomi, seeing Yahweh has testified against me, and the Almighty
has afflicted me?" {1:22} So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess,
her daughter-in-law, with her, who returned out of the country of Moab:
and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest.

    {2:1} Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth,
of the family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz. {2:2} Ruth the
Moabitess said to Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean among
the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor. She said
to her, Go, my daughter. {2:3} She went, and came and gleaned in the
field after the reapers: and she happened to come to the portion of the
field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech. {2:4}
Behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said to the reapers, Yahweh be
with you. They answered him, Yahweh bless you. {2:5} Then said Boaz to
his servant who was set over the reapers, Whose young lady is this?
{2:6} The servant who was set over the reapers answered, It is the
Moabite lady who came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab: {2:7}
She said, Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the
sheaves. So she came, and has continued even from the morning until
now, except that she stayed a little in the house. {2:8} Then said Boaz
to Ruth, Don't you hear, my daughter? Don't go to glean in another
field, neither pass from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens.
{2:9} Let your eyes be on the field that they reap, and go after them:
haven't I charged the young men that they shall not touch you? and when
you are thirsty, go to the vessels, and drink of that which the young
men have drawn. {2:10} Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to
the ground, and said to him, Why have I found favor in your sight, that
you should take knowledge of me, seeing I am a foreigner? {2:11} Boaz
answered her, It has fully been shown me, all that you have done to
your mother-in-law since the death of your husband; and how you have
left your father and your mother, and the land of your birth, and have
come to a people that you didn't know before. {2:12} Yahweh recompense
your work, and a full reward be given you of Yahweh, the God of Israel,
under whose wings you are come to take refuge. {2:13} Then she said,
Let me find favor in your sight, my lord, because you have comforted
me, and because you have spoken kindly to your handmaid, though I am
not as one of your handmaidens. {2:14} At meal-time Boaz said to her,
Come here, and eat of the bread, and dip your morsel in the vinegar.
She sat beside the reapers, and they reached her parched grain, and she
ate, and was sufficed, and left of it. {2:15} When she was risen up to
glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, Let her glean even among
the sheaves, and don't reproach her. {2:16} Also pull out some for her
from the bundles, and leave it, and let her glean, and don't rebuke
her. {2:17} So she gleaned in the field until even; and she beat out
that which she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley. {2:18}
She took it up, and went into the city; and her mother-in-law saw what
she had gleaned: and she brought forth and gave to her that which she
had left after she was sufficed. {2:19} Her mother-in-law said to her,
Where have you gleaned today? and where have you worked? blessed be he
who did take knowledge of you. She shown her mother-in-law with whom
she had worked, and said, The man's name with whom I worked today is
Boaz. {2:20} Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, Blessed be he of
Yahweh, who has not left off his kindness to the living and to the
dead. Naomi said to her, The man is a close relative to us, one of our
near kinsmen. {2:21} Ruth the Moabitess said, Yes, he said to me, You
shall keep fast by my young men, until they have ended all my harvest.
{2:22} Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, It is good, my daughter,
that you go out with his maidens, and that they not meet you in any
other field. {2:23} So she kept fast by the maidens of Boaz, to glean
to the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest; and she lived with
her mother-in-law.

    {3:1} Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, My daughter, shall I not
seek rest for you, that it may be well with you? {3:2} Now isn't Boaz
our kinsman, with whose maidens you were? Behold, he winnows barley
tonight in the threshing floor. {3:3} Wash yourself therefore, and
anoint you, and put your clothing on you, and get you down to the
threshing floor, but don't make yourself known to the man, until he
shall have done eating and drinking. {3:4} It shall be, when he lies
down, that you shall mark the place where he shall lie, and you shall
go in, and uncover his feet, and lay you down; and he will tell you
what you shall do. {3:5} She said to her, All that you say I will do.
{3:6} She went down to the threshing floor, and did according to all
that her mother-in-law bade her. {3:7} When Boaz had eaten and drunk,
and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of
grain: and she came softly, and uncovered his feet, and laid her down.
{3:8} It happened at midnight, that the man was afraid, and turned
himself; and, behold, a woman lay at his feet. {3:9} He said, Who are
you? She answered, I am Ruth your handmaid: spread therefore your skirt
over your handmaid; for you are a near kinsman. {3:10} He said, Blessed
are you by Yahweh, my daughter: you have shown more kindness in the
latter end than at the beginning, inasmuch as you didn't follow young
men, whether poor or rich. {3:11} Now, my daughter, don't be afraid; I
will do to you all that you say; for all the city of my people does
know that you are a worthy woman. {3:12} Now it is true that I am a
near kinsman; however there is a kinsman nearer than I. {3:13} Stay
this night, and it shall be in the morning, that if he will perform to
you the part of a kinsman, well; let him do the kinsman's part: but if
he will not do the part of a kinsman to you, then will I do the part of
a kinsman to you, as Yahweh lives: lie down until the morning. {3:14}
She lay at his feet until the morning. She rose up before one could
discern another. For he said, Let it not be known that the woman came
to the threshing floor. {3:15} He said, Bring the mantle that is on
you, and hold it; and she held it; and he measured six [measures] of
barley, and laid it on her: and he went into the city. {3:16} When she
came to her mother-in-law, she said, Who are you, my daughter? She told
her all that the man had done to her. {3:17} She said, These six
[measures] of barley gave he me; for he said, "Don't go empty to your
mother-in-law." {3:18} Then said she, "Sit still, my daughter, until
you know how the matter will fall; for the man will not rest, until he
has finished the thing this day."

    {4:1} Now Boaz went up to the gate, and sat him down there: and,
behold, the near kinsman of whom Boaz spoke came by; to whom he said,
Ho, such a one! turn aside, sit down here. He turned aside, and sat
down. {4:2} He took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit
you down here. They sat down. {4:3} He said to the near kinsman, Naomi,
who has come back out of the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of
land, which was our brother Elimelech's: {4:4} I thought to disclose it
to you, saying, Buy it before those who sit here, and before the elders
of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it: but if you will not
redeem it, then tell me, that I may know; for there is none to redeem
it besides you; and I am after you. He said, I will redeem it. {4:5}
Then said Boaz, What day you buy the field of the hand of Naomi, you
must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise
up the name of the dead on his inheritance. {4:6} The near kinsman
said, I can't redeem it for myself, lest I mar my own inheritance: take
my right of redemption on you; for I can't redeem it. {4:7} Now this
was [the custom] in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and
concerning exchanging, to confirm all things: a man drew off his shoe,
and gave it to his neighbor; and this was the [manner of] attestation
in Israel. {4:8} So the near kinsman said to Boaz, Buy it for yourself.
He drew off his shoe. {4:9} Boaz said to the elders, and to all the
people, You are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was
Elimelech's, and all that was Chilion's and Mahlon's, of the hand of
Naomi. {4:10} Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I
purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead on his
inheritance, that the name of the dead not be cut off from among his
brothers, and from the gate of his place: you are witnesses this day.
{4:11} All the people who were in the gate, and the elders, said, We
are witnesses. Yahweh make the woman who has come into your house like
Rachel and like Leah, which two built the house of Israel: and do you
worthily in Ephrathah, and be famous in Bethlehem: {4:12} and let your
house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, of the seed
which Yahweh shall give you of this young woman. {4:13} So Boaz took
Ruth, and she became his wife; and he went in to her, and Yahweh gave
her conception, and she bore a son. {4:14} The women said to Naomi,
Blessed be Yahweh, who has not left you this day without a near
kinsman; and let his name be famous in Israel. {4:15} He shall be to
you a restorer of life, and sustain you in your old age, for your
daughter-in-law, who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons,
has borne him. {4:16} Naomi took the child, and laid it in her bosom,
and became nurse to it. {4:17} The women her neighbors gave it a name,
saying, There is a son born to Naomi; and they named him Obed: he is
the father of Jesse, the father of David. {4:18} Now this is the
history of the generations of Perez: Perez became the father of Hezron,
{4:19} and Hezron became the father of Ram, and Ram became the father
of Amminadab, {4:20} and Amminadab became the father of Nahshon, and
Nahshon became the father of Salmon, {4:21} and Salmon became the
father of Boaz, and Boaz became the father of Obed, {4:22} and Obed
became the father of Jesse, and Jesse became the father of David.

   

   

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