The Book of Ruth

Chapter 1
1 It was in the days when the judges judged, that a famine came over the land, and a man from Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the fields of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons.
2 The name of the man was Elimelech, the name of his wife was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They came to the fields of Moab and stayed there.
3 When Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died, she remained, she and her two sons.
4 They took up Moabite wives for themselves; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the second was Ruth. And they dwelt there about ten years.
5 Then Mahlon and Chilion, both of them, also died. Thus the woman remained without her two boys and without her husband.
6 She got up with her daughters-in-law to return from the fields of Moab, for she had heard in the field of Moab that Yahweh had visited His people and given them bread.
7 So she went forth from the place where she had been; and her two daughters-in-law were with her when they went on the road to return to the land of Judah.
8 Yet Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, Go, turn back, each of you to her mother’s house. May Yahweh deal kindly with you, just as you have dealt with the dead and with me.
9 May Yahweh grant you that each may find a resting place in the house of her husband. When she kissed them, they lifted up their voice and wept.
10 They said to her, No, but with you we shall return to your people.
11 Naomi replied, Turn back, my daughters! Why should you go with me? Have I yet sons in my internal parts who might become husbands for you?
12 Turn back, my daughters! Go, for too old am I to belong to a husband. Even if I would say, There is expectation for me, even if I would belong to a husband tonight, even if I would bear sons,
13 should you look forward for them until they grow up? Should you refrain from marriage for them so as not to belong to a husband? It must not be, my daughters, for it is exceedingly more bitter for me than for you; for against me went forth the hand of Yahweh.
14 Then they lifted up their voice and wept again; and Orpah kissed her husband’s mother and turned back to her people. As for Ruth, she clung to her.
15 So Naomi said to Ruth, Behold, your sister-in-law has turned back to her people and to her elohim. Turn back after your sister-in-law.
16 Yet Ruth replied, You must not persuade me to forsake you, to turn away from following you; for wherever you go I shall go, and wherever you lodge I shall lodge. Your people will be my people, and your Elohim my Elohim.
17 Where you die, I shall die; and there I shall be entombed. Thus may Yahweh do to me, and thus may He add if anything but death parts between me and you.
18 When Naomi realized that she was resolute to go with her, she left off arguing with her further.
19 So they went, both of them, until they came to Bethlehem. It came about as they entered Bethlehem, that the whole city was clamoring over them, and the women said, Is this Naomi?
20 She replied to them, You must not call me Naomi. Call me Mara, for He Who-Suffices has brought intense bitterness on me.
21 I was full when I went out, yet empty has Yahweh caused me to return. Why call me Naomi when Yahweh, He has humbled me, and He Who-Suffices, He has done evil to me?
22 Thus Naomi returned, and Ruth her Moabite daughter-in-law being with her who had turned away from the fields of Moab. They came to Bethlehem at the start of the barley harvest.

Chapter 2
1 Now Naomi had a near relative of her husband, a man of valor, a master, of the family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz.
2 Then Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and let me glean among the ears of grain behind someone in whose eyes I may find grace. She replied to her, Go, my daughter.
3 So she went and came to glean in a field behind the reapers. And her chance happened that the portion of the field was allotted to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.
4 And behold, Boaz was coming from Bethlehem, and he said to the reapers, Yahweh be with you! They replied to him, Yahweh bless you!
5 Then Boaz said to his lad who was stationed over the reapers, Whose maiden is that?
6 The lad who was stationed over the reapers answered and said, She is the Moabite maiden who returned with Naomi from the field of Moab.
7 She pleaded, Please let me glean, and I will gather among the sheaves behind the reapers. She came early and has stayed since the morning until now; she did not even pause in the field a little while.
8 Boaz said to Ruth, Behold, hearken, my daughter. You must not go to glean in another field; also do not cross over from this one. And thus shall you follow hard behind my maidens.
9 Let your eyes be on the field which they are reaping; and you must go behind them. Behold, I have instructed the lads not to touch you at all. When you are thirsty, then you may go to the vessels and drink from what the lads shall bail.
10 Now she fell on her face, bowed herself down to the earth and said to him, For what reason have I found grace in your eyes to recognize me, since I am a foreigner?
11 Boaz answered and said to her, It was told, yea told to me, all that you have done for your husband’s mother since the death of your husband, how you forsook your father and your mother and the land of your birth and went to a people you had not known heretofore.
12 May Yahweh repay your deeds. May your reward be equitable from Yahweh the Elohim of Israel, under Whose wings you have come to take refuge.
13 She replied, May I always find grace in your eyes, my lord, for you have comforted me, and you have spoken to the heart of your maidservant. As for me, I am not even like one of your maidservants.
14 At eating time Boaz said to her, Come close hither and you will eat from the bread; and you will dip your morsel in the vinegar. So Ruth sat down by the side of the reapers, and Boaz held out toasted grain to her. She ate and was satisfied and had some left over.
15 When she arose to glean, Boaz instructed his lads, saying, Even between the sheaves let her glean, and you shall not mortify her.
16 Moreover, you shall pull out, yea pull out for her some stalks from the swaths, and you will leave them that she may glean, and you may not rebuke her.
17 She gleaned in the field until evening. When she beat out what she had gleaned, it was about an ephah of barley.
18 She took it up and came back into the city, and her husband’s mother saw what she had gleaned. Then Ruth brought forth and gave her what she had left over from her satisfying meal.
19 Now her husband’s mother asked her, Where then did you glean today? Where have you worked? Blessed be he who was recognizing you. So she told her husband’s mother with whom she had worked, saying, The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz.
20 Naomi replied to her daughter-in-law, Blessed be he by Yahweh, Who has not forsaken His benignity toward the living and the dead. And Naomi explained to her, This man is a near relative of ours; he is one of our kinsmen redeemers.
21 Then Ruth the Moabite said to her husband’s mother, He even told me, You shall follow hard behind the lads who are mine until they have finished all the harvest that I have.
22 Naomi replied to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, It is best, my daughter, that you go forth with his maidens, so that the lads in another field may not touch on you.
23 So she followed hard behind the maidens of Boaz, to glean until the barley harvest and the wheat harvest were finished. And she dwelt with her husband’s mother.

Chapter 3
1 Naomi, her husband’s mother, said to her, My daughter, behold, I should seek a resting place for you that it may be well with you.
2 Now behold, there is our near relative Boaz with whose maidens you have been. Behold, he will be winnowing barley on the threshing site tonight.
3 So bathe and use lotion, put your raiment on you, and go down to the threshing site. But do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking.
4 When it occurs that he lies down, then get to know the place where he lies. Later you must go there, you will expose his feet and lie down. As for him, he shall tell you what you should do.
5 Ruth replied to her, All that you say I shall do.
6 So she went down to the threshing site and did according to all that her husband’s mother had instructed her.
7 Boaz ate and drank, and his heart felt good when he came to lie down at the end of the grain-pile. Later she went there with stealth, exposed his feet and lay down.
8 It came about at midnight that the man began to tremble and bent forward; and behold, there was a woman lying at his feet.
9 He asked, Who are you? And she replied, I am Ruth, your maidservant. You will spread the hem of your raiment over your maidservant, since you are a kinsman redeemer.
10 At that he said, Blessed be you by Yahweh, my daughter! You have shown your latter kindness to be better than the first, in not going at all after the men in their prime, whether a poor one or a rich one.
11 And now, my daughter, do not fear. All that you ask I shall do for you; for all the gate of my people is knowing that you are an able woman.
12 But now, though it is true that I am a kinsman redeemer, there is however a kinsman redeemer nearer than I.
13 Lodge here tonight. Then it will come to pass in the morning: if he redeems you, good; let him redeem. Yet if he is not inclined to redeem you, I myself will redeem you, as Yahweh lives! Lie down until the morning.
14 So she lay at his feet until the morning; yet she arose ere a man could recognize his associate, for Boaz had said, It must not be known that the woman came to the threshing site.
15 He said to her, Get the shawl that is on you, and hold it out. So she held it while he measured out six measures of barley and set it on her back. Then she entered the city.
16 She came to her husband’s mother who asked, How did you fare, my daughter? So she told her all that the man had done for her;
17 and she added, These six measures of barley gave he to me, saying, You must not come back empty-handed to your husband’s mother.
18 She replied, Stay here, my daughter, until you come to know how the matter turns out. For the man shall not be quiet unless he concludes the matter today.

Chapter 4
1 Boaz had gone up to the gate and sat down there, when the kinsman redeemer was passing by of whom Boaz had spoken. Boaz said to him, Do turn in, do sit down here, So-and-so. And he turned in and sat down.
2 Then Boaz took ten men of the elders of the city and said, Sit here. When they were seated
3 he stated to the kinsman redeemer: Naomi, who has returned from the field of Moab, has put up for sale the portion of the field that our kinsman Elimelech had.
4 As for me, I thought I should reveal it to your ear, saying, Acquire it in front of those seated here, in front of the elders of my people. Should you want to redeem, so redeem it. Yet should you not redeem, do tell me so that I may know, for there is no one except you to redeem, and I am after you. He replied, I shall redeem it.
5 Then Boaz continued, On the day you acquire the field from the hand of Naomi, you acquire also Ruth, the Moabite wife of the dead, in order to raise up the name of the dead on his allotment.
6 The kinsman redeemer replied, I am not able to redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own allotment. As for you, redeem my redemption right for yourself, for I am not able to redeem it.
7 Now this was the custom beforetime in Israel, concerning redemption and exchange, to confirm every matter: A man would pull off his sandal and give it to his associate; this was the attestation in Israel.
8 So the kinsman redeemer said to Boaz, Acquire it for yourself. And he pulled off his sandal and gave it to him.
9 Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, You are witnesses today that I have acquired all that Elimelech had and all that Chilion and Mahlon had, from the hand of Naomi.
10 Moreover, Ruth, the Moabite wife of Mahlon, I have acquired for myself as a wife, in order to raise up the name of the dead on his allotment, so that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his kinsmen and from the gate of his place. You are witnesses today.
11 All the people in the gate and the elders replied, We are witnesses! And the elders said, May Yahweh grant to the woman who is coming to your house to be like Rachel and like Leah, both of whom built up the house of Israel! Perform ably in Ephrathah, and proclaim a name in Bethlehem!
12 May your house become like the house of Perez whom Tamar bore for Judah, from the seed which Yahweh shall give to you from this maiden.
13 So Boaz took Ruth; she became his wife, and he came to her. Yahweh granted her pregnancy, and she bore a son.
14 Then the women said to Naomi, Blessed be Yahweh Who has not let your redeemer cease today; may his name be proclaimed in Israel!
15 He has become to you the one to restore your soul and to sustain your greyhaired age; for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, she has borne him, she who is better for you than seven sons.
16 Then Naomi took the boy and set him to her bosom, and she became like a foster mother to him.
17 The neighborhood women called a name to him, saying, A son has been born to Naomi! And they called his name Obed. He was the father of Jesse, David’s father.
18 These are the genealogical records of Perez. Perez begot Hezron,
19 Hezron begot Aram, Aram begot Amminadab,
20 Amminadab begot Nahshon, Nahshon begot Salmon,
21 Salmon begot Boaz, Boaz begot Obed,
22 Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David.