Ruth 3

1 And her mother-in-law Naomi says to her, “My daughter, do I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you?

One day, Naomi said to Ruth, “My daughter, I think that I should [RHQ] try to arrange for you to have a husband [MTY] who will (take care of/provide for) you.

2 And now, is not Boaz of our acquaintance, with whose young women you have been? Behold, he is winnowing the threshing-floor of barley tonight,

Boaz, the man with whose [servant] girls you have been [gathering grain], is a close relative [of our dead husbands]. Listen [carefully]. Tonight he will be at the ground where [the barley has] been threshed. He will be separating the barley grain from the chaff.

3 and you have bathed, and anointed yourself, and put your garments on you, and gone down to the threshing-floor; do not let yourself be known to the man until he completes to eat and to drink;

Bathe yourself and put on some perfume. Put on your [best] clothes. Then go down to the ground where they have threshed [the grain]. But do not let Boaz know that you are there while he is eating [supper] and drinking.

4 and it comes to pass, when he lies down, that you have known the place where he lies down, and have gone in, and uncovered his feet, and lain down—and he declares to you that which you do.”

[When he has finished eating], notice where he lies down to sleep. Then [when he is asleep], take the blanket off his feet and lie [close to his feet]. [When he wakes up], he will tell you what to do.”

5 And she says to her, “All that you say—I do.”

Ruth replied, “I will do everything that you have told me [to do].”

6 And she goes down [to] the threshing-floor, and does according to all that her mother-in-law commanded her

So she went down to the ground where they had threshed [the barley grain]. There she did everything that her mother-in-law had told her [to do].

7 And Boaz eats and drinks, and his heart is glad; and he goes in to lie down at the end of the heap; and she comes in gently, and uncovers his feet, and lies down.

When Boaz finished eating [supper] and drinking [wine], he felt happy. Then he went over to the far end of the pile of grain. He lay down [and went to sleep]. Then Ruth approached him quietly. She took the blanket off his feet and lay down [there].

8 And it comes to pass, at the middle of the night, that the man trembles, and turns himself, and behold, a woman is lying at his feet.

In the middle of the night, he suddenly awoke. He sat up and saw that a woman was lying at his feet.

9 And he says, “Who [are] you?” And she says, “I [am] Ruth your handmaid, and you have spread your skirt over your handmaid, for you [are] a redeemer.”

He asked her, “Who are you?” She replied, “I am your servant, Ruth. Since you are the one who has a responsibility to take care of [someone like me whose dead husband was] your close relative, spread the corner of your cloak over my [feet to show that you will marry me].”

10 And he says, “Blessed [are] you of YHWH, my daughter; you have dealt more kindly at the latter end than at the beginning—not to go after the young men, either poor or rich.

Boaz replied, “Young lady, I hope that Yahweh will (bless/be kind to) you! You have acted kindly [toward your mother-in-law], and now you are acting even more kindly [toward me by wanting to marry me, instead of wanting to marry a young man]. You have not looked for either a rich young man or a poor young man, [to marry him].

11 And now, my daughter, do not fear, all that you say I do to you, for all the gate of my people knows that you [are] a virtuous woman.

Now, young lady, I will do everything you ask. Don’t worry [that people in this town might think I am doing wrong by marrying you because you are a woman from Moab]. All the people in this town know that you are an honorable woman.

12 And now, surely, true, that I [am] a redeemer, but also there is a redeemer nearer than I.

But [there is one problem]. Although it is true that I am a close relative [of your mother-in-law’s dead husband], there is another man who is a closer relative [than I am], and therefore he should be the one to [marry you and] take care of you.

13 Lodge tonight, and it has been in the morning, if he redeems you, well: he redeems; and if he does not delight to redeem you, then I have redeemed you—I; YHWH lives! Lie down until the morning.”

You stay here for the rest of this night. Tomorrow morning [I will tell this man about you]. If he says that he will [marry you and] take care of you, fine, [we will] let him do that. But if he is not willing [to do that], I solemnly promise that as surely as Yahweh lives, I will [marry you and] take care of you. So lie/sleep here until it is morning.”

14 And she lies down at his feet until the morning, and rises before one discerns another; and he says, “Let it not be known that the woman has come into the floor.”

So she lay at his feet until morning. But she got up and left before it was light enough that people would be able to recognize her, because Boaz said, “I do not want anyone to know that a woman was here.”

15 And he says, “Give the covering which [is] on you, and keep hold on it”; and she keeps hold on it, and he measures six [measures] of barley, and lays [it] on her; and he goes into the city.

He also said to her, “Bring to me your cloak and spread it out.” When she did that, he poured into it six measures/24 liters/50 pounds of barley, and put in on her back. Then he (OR, she) went back to the town.

16 And she comes to her mother-in-law, and she says, “Who [are] you, my daughter?” And she declares to her all that the man has done to her.

When Ruth arrived home, her mother-in-law asked her, “My daughter, how did (things go/Boaz act toward you)?” Then Ruth told her everything that Boaz had done for her [and said to her].

17 And she says, “These six [measures] of barley he has given to me, for he said, You do not go in empty to your mother-in-law.”

She also said [to Naomi], “He gave me all this barley, saying ‘I do not want you to return to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’”

18 And she says, “Sit still, my daughter, until you know how the matter falls, for the man does not rest except he has completed the matter today.”

Then Naomi said, “My daughter, just wait until we see what happens. [I am sure that] Boaz will take care of [LIT] the matter [of your marriage]. [LIT]”