Ruth 3

1 Postquam autem reversa est ad socrum suam, audivit ab ea: Filia mea, quæram tibi requiem, et providebo ut bene sit tibi.

And Naomi, her mother-in-law, said to her, My daughter, am I not to get you a resting-place where you may be in comfort?

2 Booz iste, cujus puellis in agro juncta es, propinquus noster est, et hac nocte aream hordei ventilat.

And now, is there not Boaz, our relation, with whose young women you were? See, tonight he is separating the grain from the waste in his grain-floor.

3 Lavare igitur, et ungere, et induere cultioribus vestimentis, et descende in aream: non te videat homo, donec esum potumque finierit.

So take a bath, and, after rubbing your body with sweet oil, put on your best robe, and go down to the grain-floor; but do not let him see you till he has come to the end of his meal.

4 Quando autem ierit ad dormiendum, nota locum in quo dormiat: veniesque et discooperies pallium, quo operitur a parte pedum, et projicies te, et ibi jacebis: ipse autem dicet quid agere debeas.

But see to it, when he goes to rest, that you take note of the place where he is sleeping, and go in there, and, uncovering his feet, take your place by him; and he will say what you are to do.

5 Quæ respondit: Quidquid præceperis, faciam.

And she said, I will do all you say.

6 Descenditque in aream, et fecit omnia quæ sibi imperaverat socrus.

So she went down to the grain-floor and did all her mother-in-law had said to her.

7 Cumque comedisset Booz, et bibisset, et factus esset hilarior, issetque ad dormiendum juxta acervum manipulorum, venit abscondite, et discooperto pallio, a pedibus ejus se projecit.

Now when Boaz had taken meat and drink, and his heart was glad, he went to take his rest at the end of the mass of grain; then she came softly and, uncovering his feet, went to rest.

8 Et ecce, nocte jam media expavit homo, et conturbatus est: viditque mulierem jacentem ad pedes suos,

Now in the middle of the night, the man awaking from his sleep in fear, and lifting himself up, saw a woman stretched at his feet.

9 et ait illi: Quæ es? Illaque respondit: Ego sum Ruth ancilla tua: expande pallium tuum super famulam tuam, quia propinquus es.

And he said, Who are you? And she answering said, I am your servant Ruth: take your servant as wife, for you are a near relation.

10 Et ille: Benedicta, inquit, es a Domino, filia, et priorem misericordiam posteriore superasti: quia non est secuta juvenes, pauperes sive divites.

And he said, May the Lord give you his blessing, my daughter: even better than what you did at the first is this last kind act you have done, in not going after young men, with or without wealth.

11 Noli ergo metuere, sed quidquid dixeris mihi, faciam tibi. Scit enim omnis populus, qui habitat intra portas urbis meæ, mulierem te esse virtutis.

And now, my daughter, have no fear; I will do for you whatever you say: for it is clear to all my townspeople that you are a woman of virtue.

12 Nec abnuo me propinquum, sed est alius me propinquior.

Now it is true that I am a near relation: but there is a relation nearer than I.

13 Quiesce hac nocte: et facto mane, si te voluerit propinquitatis jure retinere, bene res acta est: sin autem ille noluerit, ego te absque ulla dubitatione suscipiam, vivit Dominus. Dormi usque mane.

Take your rest here tonight; and in the morning, if he will do for you what it is right for a relation to do, very well, let him do so: but if he will not, then by the living Lord I myself will do so.

14 Dormivit itaque ad pedes ejus, usque ad noctis abscessum. Surrexit itaque antequam homines se cognoscerent mutuo, et dixit Booz: Cave ne quis noverit quod huc veneris.

And she took her rest at his feet till the morning: and she got up before it was light enough for one to see another. And he said, Let it not come to anyone's knowledge that the woman came to the grain-floor.

15 Et rursum: Expande, inquit, pallium tuum, quo operiris, et tene utraque manu. Qua extendente, et tenente, mensus est sex modios hordei, et posuit super eam. Quæ portans ingressa est civitatem,

And he said, Take your robe, stretching it out in your hands: and she did so, and he took six measures of grain and put them into it, and gave it her to take: and she went back to the town.

16 et venit ad socrum suam. Quæ dixit ei: Quid egisti, filia? Narravitque ei omnia, quæ sibi fecisset homo.

And when she came back her mother-in-law said to her, How did it go with you, my daughter? And she gave her an account of all the man had done to her.

17 Et ait: Ecce sex modios hordei dedit mihi, et ait: Nolo vacuam te reverti ad socrum tuam.

And she said, He gave me these six measures of grain, saying, Do not go back to your mother-in-law with nothing in your hands.

18 Dixitque Noëmi: Expecta, filia, donec videamus quem res exitum habeat: neque enim cessabit homo, nisi compleverit quod locutus est.

Then she said, Do nothing now, my daughter, till you see what will come of this; for the man will take no rest till he has put this thing through.