1

¹ And it came to pass in the days when the judges judged, that there was a famine in the land: and there went a certain man of Beth–lechem–judah to sojourn in the fields of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.

² And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Na’omi, and the name of his two sons Machlon and Kilyon, Ephrathites of Beth–lechem–judah. And they came into the fields of Moab, and remained there.

³ Thereupon died Elimelech Na’omi’s husband; and she was left, with her two sons.

⁴ And they took themselves wives of the women of Moab; the name of one was ‘Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelt there about ten years.

⁵ And then died also both of these, Machlon and Kilyon, and the woman was left deprived of her two children and her husband.

⁶ Then did she arise with her daughters–in–law, and returned homeward from the fields of Moab; for she had heard in the fields of Moab that the Lord had thought of his people in giving them bread.

⁷ Therefore she went forth out of the place where she had been, and her two daughters–in–law were with her; and they went on their way to return unto the land of Judah.

⁸ Then said Na’omi unto her two daughters–in–law, Go, return each one to her mother’s house: may the Lord deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and with me.

⁹ May the Lord grant unto you that ye may find rest, each one in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voice, and wept.

¹⁰ And they said unto her, No, for truly we will return with thee unto thy people.

¹¹ Then said Na’omi, Return back, my daughters; why will ye go with me? are there yet any more sons in my womb, that they may become your husbands?

¹² Return back, my daughters, go; for I am too old to become the wife of any man; yea, if I were even to think, I have hope; should I even obtain this night a husband, and should also bear sons:

¹³ Would ye wait in hopes for them till they were grown? would ye debar yourselves for them so as not to become the wives of any man? not so, my daughters; for I feel much more bitter pain than you; because the hand of the Lord is gone out against me.

¹⁴ And they lifted up their voice and wept a long time; and Orpah kissed her mother–in–law; but Ruth cleaved unto her.

¹⁵ And she said, Behold, thy sister–in–law is returned back unto her people, and unto her gods; return thou after thy sister–in–law.

¹⁶ But Ruth said, Urge me not to leave thee, to return from following thee; for whither thou goest, will I go; and where thou lodgest, will I lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.

¹⁷ Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried; may the Lord do so to me, and may he so continue, if aught but death shall part me from thee.

¹⁸ When she thus saw that she was persisting to go with her, she left off speaking unto her.

¹⁹ So these two went until they came to Beth–lechem. And it came to pass, when they entered Beth–lechem, that all the city was in commotion about them, and people said, Is this Na’omi?

²⁰ And she said unto them, Call me not Na’omi, call me Mara; for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.

²¹ I went out full, but empty hath the Lord brought me home again; why then will ye call me Na’omi, seeing the Lord hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath sent me affliction?

²² So did Na’omi return, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter–in–law, with her, who had returned out of the fields of Moab; and they came to Beth–lechem at the beginning of the barley–harvest.

2

¹ And Na’omi had a kinsman of her husband’s, a mighty, valiant man, of the family of Elimelech, whose name was Bo’az.

² And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Na’omi, Let me go, I pray thee, into the field, and glean ears of corn after him in whose eyes I shall find grace. And she said unto her, Go, my daughter.

³ And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers; and the accident happened to her, that it was a part of the field belonging unto Bo’az, who was of the family of Elimelech.

⁴ And, behold, Bo’az came from Beth–lechem, and he said unto the reapers, The Lord be with you. And they said unto him, May the Lord bless thee.

⁵ Then said Bo’az unto his young man that was appointed over the reapers, Whose maiden is this?

⁶ And the young man that was appointed over the reapers answered and said, It is a Moabitish maiden that is returned with Na’omi out of the fields of Moab;

⁷ And she said, Let me glean, I pray you, and gather among the sheaves after the reapers: so she came, and hath remained ever from the morning even until now; it is but a little while that she hath sat down in the house.

⁸ Then said Bo’az unto Ruth, Hearest thou not, my daughter? Go not to glean in another field, neither go away from this; but keep close company with my own maidens.

⁹ Let thy eyes be on the field which they may reap, and go thou after them; behold, I have charged the young men that they shall not touch thee: and when thou art thirsty, go unto the vessels, and drink of that which the young men may draw.

¹⁰ Thereupon she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said unto him, Why have I found grace in thy eyes, that thou shouldst take cognizance of me, seeing I am but a stranger?

¹¹ But Bo’az answered and said unto her, It hath fully been told me, all that thou hast done unto thy mother–in–law after the death of thy husband; and how thou hast forsaken thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy birth, and art come unto a people which thou knewest not yesterday or the day before.

¹² May the Lord recompense thy work, and may thy reward be complete from the Lord the God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to seek shelter.

¹³ Then said she, Let me find grace in thy eyes, my lord; for thou hast comforted me, and because thou hast spoken kindly unto the heart of thy handmaid, though I be not like one of thy handmaids.

¹⁴ And Bo’az said unto her, At mealtime come near hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And she seated herself beside the reapers: and he reached her parched corn, and she ate, and was satisfied, and had some left.

¹⁵ Then did she arise to glean: and Bo’az commanded his young men, saying, Even between the sheaves let her glean, and do not cause her to feel any shame;

¹⁶ And ye shall also draw out some for her from the bundles on purpose, and leave it, that she may glean it, and ye shall not rebuke her.

¹⁷ So she gleaned in the field until the evening; and when she beat out what she had gleaned, it was about an ephah of barley.

¹⁸ And she took it up, and she went into the city; and her mother–in–law saw what she had gleaned; and she brought forth and gave to her what she had left over after she was satisfied.

¹⁹ And her mother–in–law said unto her, Where hast thou gleaned today? and where hast thou wrought? may he that took cognizance of thee be blessed. And she told her mother–in–law with whom she had wrought, and said, The name of the man with whom I wrought today is Bo’az.

²⁰ Then said Na’omi unto her daughter–in–law, Blessed be he unto the Lord, who hath not withheld his kindness from the living and from the dead. And Na’omi said unto her, The man is nearly related unto us, he is one of our next kinsmen.

²¹ And Ruth the Moabitess said, He hath also said unto me, Thou shalt keep close company with my young men, until they have ended all my harvest.

²² Then said Na’omi unto Ruth her daughter–in–law, It is good, my daughter, that thou go out with his maidens, and that men may not meet with thee in any other field.

²³ So she kept close company with the maidens of Bo’az in gleaning until the end of the barley–harvest and of the wheat–harvest; and she dwelt with her mother–in–law.

3

¹ Then said Na’omi her mother–in–law unto her, My daughter, behold I will seek for thee a resting–place, where it may be well with thee.

² And now, behold, Bo’az is our kinsman, he with whose maidens thou hast been. Lo, he is winnowing the barley to–night in the threshing–floor.

³ Therefore bathe, and anoint thyself, and put thy garments upon thee, and go down to the threshing–floor; but make thyself not known unto the man, until he shall have finished eating and drinking.

⁴ And it shall be, when he lieth down, that thou shalt note the place where he will lie, and thou shalt then go in, and lift up the covering that is on his feet, and lay thyself down: and he will tell thee what thou shalt do.

⁵ And she said unto her, All that thou sayest unto me will I do.

⁶ And she went down unto the threshing–floor, and did in accordance with all that her mother–in–law had commanded her.

⁷ And Bo’az ate and drank, and his heart became merry; and he then went in to lie down at the end of the heap of corn: and she came in softly, and lifted up the covering that was on his feet, and laid herself down.

⁸ And it came to pass at midnight, that the man became terrified, and bent himself forward; and, behold, a woman was lying at his feet.

⁹ And he said, Who art thou? And she said, I am Ruth thy handmaid: spread therefore thy skirt over thy handmaid; for thou art a near kinsman.

¹⁰ And he said, Blessed be thou unto the Lord, my daughter; for thou hast shown more kindness in the last instance than the first, by not going after the young men, whether they be poor or rich.

¹¹ And now, my daughter, fear not: all that thou mayest say will I do for thee; for all the men in the gate of my people know that thou art a virtuous woman.

¹² And now, it is indeed true that I am thy near kinsman; nevertheless, there is a kinsman nearer than I.

¹³ Remain here this night, and it shall be in the morning, that if he will redeem thee, well, let him redeem; but if he be not willing to redeem thee, then will I redeem thee, as the Lord liveth: lie still until the morning.

¹⁴ And she lay at his feet until the morning; and she rose up before one could know another. And he said, It must not be known that this woman came into the threshing–floor.

¹⁵ Also he said, Bring hither the cloak that thou hast upon thee, and lay hold of it. And she laid hold of it, and he measured six measures of barley, and laid it on her, and went into the city.

¹⁶ And she came to her mother–in–law, and she said, How is it with thee, my daughter? And she told her all that the man had done to her.

¹⁷ And she said, These six measures of barley gave he unto me; for he said to me, Thou shalt not come empty to thy mother–in–law.

¹⁸ Then said she, Remain still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall out; for the man will not rest, until he have finished the matter this day.

4

¹ But Bo’az went up to the gate, and sat down there; and, behold, the kinsman of whom Bo’az had spoken came passing by; and he said unto him, Turn aside hither, sit down here, such a one. And he turned aside, and sat down.

² And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit ye down here. And they sat down.

³ And he said unto the kinsman, Na’omi, that is returned out of the field of Moab, hath to sell a parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech’s.

⁴ And I thought to inform thee of it, saying, Buy it before those sitting here, and before the elders of my people. If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it; but if thou wilt not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know; for there is none beside thee to redeem it, and I am after thee. And he said, I will redeem it.

⁵ Then said Bo’az, On the day that thou buyest the field out of the hand of Na’omi, thou buyest it also from Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance.

⁶ And the kinsman said, I am not able to redeem it for myself, lest I injure my own inheritance: redeem thou what I should redeem for thyself; for I am not able to redeem it.

⁷ Now this was formerly the custom in Israel at a redeeming and at an exchanging, to confirm any thing, that a man pulled off his shoe, and gave it to the other; and this was the manner of testimony in Israel.

⁸ Thereupon said the kinsman unto Bo’az, Buy it for thee. And he pulled off his shoe.

⁹ And Bo’az said unto the elders, and unto all the people, Ye are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that belonged to Elimelech, and all that belonged to Kilyon and Machlon, out of the hand of Na’omi.

¹⁰ And also Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Machlon, have I obtained for myself as my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of his place: ye are witnesses this day.

¹¹ And all the people that were in the gate, and the elders, said, We are witnesses. The Lord grant that the woman that is coming into thy house be like Rachel and like Leah, who did both build up the house of Israel: and acquire thou wealth in Ephrathah, and let thy name become famous in Beth–lechem;

¹² And may thy house be like the house of Perez, whom Thamar bore unto Judah, through the seed which the Lord will give thee of this young woman.

¹³ And Bo’az took Ruth, and she became his wife, and he went in unto her: and the Lord gave her conception, and she bore a son.

¹⁴ And the women said unto Na’omi, Blessed be the Lord, who hath not allowed to be wanting unto thee a kinsman this day: and may his name become famous in Israel.

¹⁵ And may he be unto thee one who refresheth thy soul, and who nourisheth thy old age; for thy daughter–in–law, who loveth thee, hath born him, she who is better to thee than seven sons.

¹⁶ And Na’omi took the child, and laid it in her lap, and she became a nurse unto it.

¹⁷ And the neighboring women gave him a name, saying, There hath been a son born unto Na’omi: and they called his name ‘Obed, who is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

¹⁸ And these are the generations of Perez: Perez begat Chezron;

¹⁹ And Chezron begat Ram; and Ram begat ‘Amminadab;

²⁰ And ‘Amminadab begat Nachshon; and Nachshon begat Salmah;

²¹ And Salmon begat Bo’az; and Bo’az begat ‘Obed;

²² And ‘Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David.