Fluent Translation · Read & Reflect
Ruth 2
Ruth Gleans in the Field of Boaz
Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side, a man of standing from the clan of Elimelech. His name was Boaz. Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the fields and glean among the heads of grain behind someone in whose eyes I may find favor.” Naomi said to her, “Go, my daughter.” So Ruth went out and gleaned in the field behind the reapers. As it happened, she came to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelech.
Just then Boaz came from Bethlehem. He said to the reapers, “The LORD be with you.” They answered him, “The LORD bless you.” Boaz asked the servant in charge of the reapers, “Whose young woman is this?” The servant in charge of the reapers answered, “She is the young Moabite woman who returned with Naomi from the country of Moab. She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the reapers.’ She came early this morning and has continued until now, with only a short rest.”
Boaz Shows Kindness to Ruth
Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter. Do not go glean in another field, and do not leave this one. Stay close to my young women. Keep your eyes on the field they are reaping, and follow after them. I have commanded the young men not to touch you. When you are thirsty, go to the water jars and drink what the young men have drawn.” Ruth fell on her face, bowing to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you would take notice of me when I am a foreigner?”
Boaz answered her, “Everything you have done for your mother-in-law since your husband’s death has been fully told to me—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to a people you did not know before. May the LORD repay you for what you have done, and may you receive a full reward from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge.” Ruth said, “May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord, because you have comforted me and spoken kindly to your servant, though I am not even one of your servants.”
Ruth Eats with the Reapers
At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come here, eat some of the bread, and dip your piece in the vinegar.” So she sat beside the reapers, and he handed her roasted grain. She ate until she was satisfied and had some left over. When she got up to glean, Boaz instructed his young men, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not shame her. In fact, pull out some stalks from the bundles for her and leave them for her to glean. Do not rebuke her.”
Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it came to about an ephah of barley. She carried it into the town, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. Ruth also brought out the food she had left after eating her fill and gave it to her.
Naomi Learns About Boaz
Her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the one who took notice of you.” So Ruth told her mother-in-law whom she had worked with. She said, “The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz.” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by the LORD, whose steadfast love has not forsaken the living or the dead.” Naomi also said to her, “The man is a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers.”
Ruth the Moabite said, “He also told me, ‘Stay close to my young men until they have finished all my harvest.’” Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, so that you are not harmed in another field.” So Ruth stayed close to the young women of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the barley harvest and the wheat harvest. And she continued living with her mother-in-law.