Ruth 2
1 There was a man in Bethlehem who belonged to the clan of [Naomi’s dead husband], Elimelech. He was rich and well-known/influential. His name was Boaz.
And Naomi has an acquaintance of her husband’s, a man mighty in wealth, of the family of Elimelech, and his name [is] Boaz.
2 [One day] Ruth said to Naomi, “Let me go to the fields and pick up the grain left behind by the workers.” Naomi replied, “Go ahead, my daughter.”
And Ruth the Moabitess says to Naomi, “Please let me go into the field, and I gather among the ears of grain after him in whose eyes I find grace”; and she says to her, “Go, my daughter.”
3 So Ruth went to the fields and began to pick up some of the left-over grain. And it happened that she was working in a field that belonged to Boaz, [the man] from the clan of [her dead father-in-law], Elimelech!
And she goes and comes and gathers in a field after the reapers, and her chance happens—the portion of the field is Boaz’s who [is] of the family of Elimelech.
4 Just then, Boaz arrived from Bethlehem. He greeted the men who were harvesting the grain, saying, “I want Yahweh to bless you!” They replied, “We want Yahweh to bless you, [too]!”
And behold, Boaz has come from Beth-Lehem, and says to the reapers, “YHWH [is] with you”; and they say to him, “YHWH blesses you.”
5 Then Boaz saw Ruth, and asked the (foreman/man in charge of the other workmen), “Whose [daughter] is that young woman?”
And Boaz says to his young man who is set over the reapers, “Whose [is] this young person?”
6 The foreman replied, “She is the woman from Moab who returned from there with [her mother-in-law] Naomi.
And the young man who is set over the reapers answers and says, “A young woman—Moabitess—she [is], who came back with Naomi from the fields of Moab,
7 She said to me, ‘Please let me walk behind the men who are harvesting the grain and pick up some of the grain they leave behind.’ [I gave her permission, and] she went into the field, and she has been working from this morning until now. The only time she did not work was when she rested for a short time in the shelter.”
and she says, Please let me glean and I have gathered among the sheaves after the reapers; and she comes and remains since the morning and until now; she sat in the house a little [while].”
8 So Boaz went over to Ruth and said to her, “Young lady, listen to me. Don’t go and pick up grain in another field. Do not go away from here. Stay here with my servant girls.
And Boaz says to Ruth, “Have you not heard, my daughter? Do not go to glean in another field, and also, do not pass over from here, and thus you cleave to my young women:
9 Watch where the men are harvesting, and follow along behind the [servant] girls. I will tell the men [who are working] not to touch/molest you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get some water to drink from the jars that the men have filled.”
your eyes [are] on the field which they reap, and you have gone after them; have I not charged the young men not to touch you? When you are thirsty then you have gone to the vessels, and have drunk from that which the young men draw.”
10 When he said that, she knelt down in front of him [in respect], with her face touching the ground. She exclaimed, “Why are you acting so kindly toward me, by paying attention to me? [I am not even a Jew; I am] a foreigner!”
And she falls on her face, and bows herself to the earth, and says to him, “Why have I found grace in your eyes, to discern me, and I a stranger?”
11 Boaz replied, “People have told me all about what you have done for your mother-in-law. They told me that you left your parents and your homeland, and you came here to live among people whom you did not know before.
And Boaz answers and says to her, “It has been thoroughly declared to me all that you have done with your mother-in-law, after the death of your husband, and you leave your father, and your mother, and the land of your birth, and come to a people which you have not known before.
12 I hope/desire that Yahweh will repay you for what you have done. You have put yourself in the care of Yahweh, [like a little bird puts itself] under [its mother’s] wings [MET]. I desire that he will reward you very greatly.”
YHWH repays your work, and your reward is complete from YHWH, God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”
13 She replied, “Sir, I hope you will continue to act kindly toward me. You have comforted/encouraged me, even though I am lower in status than any of your servant girls.”
And she says, “Let me find grace in your eyes, my lord, because you have comforted me, and because you have spoken to the heart of your maidservant, and I am not as one of your maidservants.”
14 At mealtime, Boaz said to her, “Come over here. Take some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar [and eat it].” Then when she sat down with the men who had been harvesting, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all the grain she wanted, and had some left over.
And Boaz says to her, “At meal-time come near here, and you have eaten of the bread, and dipped your morsel in the vinegar.” And she sits at the side of the reapers, and he reaches to her roasted grain, and she eats, and is satisfied, and leaves.
15 As she stood up to start gathering grain [again], Boaz ordered his workers, “Even if she gathers some grain near the bundles of grain that have been cut, do not scold her.
And she rises to glean, and Boaz charges his young men, saying, “Even between the sheaves she gleans, and you do not cause her to blush;
16 Instead, pull out some stalks of grain from the bundles, and leave them on the ground for her to pick up, and do not rebuke her.”
and also you surely cast to her of the handfuls—and have left, and she has gleaned, and you do not push against her.”
17 So Ruth gathered grain in the field until evening. Then she (threshed/beat with a stick) the barley that she had gathered, [to separate the kernels from the stalks], and the barley filled a large basket.
And she gleans in the field until the evening, and beats out that which she has gleaned, and it is about an ephah of barley;
18 She carried it back to town, and showed to her mother-in-law how much she had gathered. Ruth also showed to her the grain [that was left over after] she had eaten enough from [what Boaz had given her at lunchtime].
and she takes [it] up, and goes into the city, and her mother-in-law sees that which she has gleaned, and she brings out and gives to her that which she left from her satiety.
19 Her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you gather grain today? In whose [field] did you work? [God will] surely bless the man who was kind to you.” Then Ruth told her about the man in whose field she had been working. She said, “The name of the man [who owns the field] where I worked today is Boaz.”
And her mother-in-law says to her, “Where have you gleaned today? And where have you worked? May he who is discerning you be blessed.” And she declares to her mother-in-law with whom she has worked, and says, “The name of the man with whom I have worked today [is] Boaz.”
20 Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “I hope/desire that Yahweh will bless him! He has not stopped acting kindly toward [us, who are still] living, and to [our husbands] who have died.” Then she added, “That man is a close relative [of Elimelech]; he is one of those who has a responsibility to help those who are his relatives.”
And Naomi says to her daughter-in-law, “Blessed [is] he of YHWH who has not forsaken His kindness with the living and with the dead”; and Naomi says to her, “The man is a relation of ours; he [is] of our redeemers.”
21 Then Ruth said, “He also said to me, ‘Stay with my workers until they have finished harvesting all my grain.’”
And Ruth the Moabitess says, “Also he surely said to me, Near the young people whom I have you cleave until they have completed the whole of the harvest which I have.”
22 Naomi replied, “My daughter, it will be good for you to go [to his field] with his [servant] girls, because if you go to someone else’s field, someone might harm/molest you.”
And Naomi says to her daughter-in-law Ruth, “Good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, and they do not come against you in another field.”
23 So Ruth stayed close to Boaz’s [servant] girls [while she was working]. She gathered stalks of grain until the barley harvest and the wheat harvest were finished. During that time she lived with Naomi.
And she cleaves to the young women of Boaz to glean, until the completion of the barley-harvest, and of the wheat-harvest, and she dwells with her mother-in-law.
