Ruth 2

2Now Naomi had a relative on her husband's side, from the clan of Elimelech, a man of standing, whose name was Boaz.H5281H4129H3045H376H1368H376H2428H4940H458H8034H11622And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, "Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor." Naomi said to her, "Go ahead, my daughter."H7327H4125H559H5281H3212H7704H3950H7641H310H5869H4672H2580H559H3212H13233So she went out and began to glean in the fields behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she found herself working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelech.H3212H935H3950H7704H310H7114H4745H7136H2513H7704H1162H4940H4584Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, "The LORD be with you!" "The LORD bless you!" they called back.H1162H935H1035H559H7114H3068H559H3068H12885Boaz asked the foreman of his harvesters, "Whose young woman is that?"H559H1162H5288H5324H7114H52916The foreman replied, "She is the Moabitess who came back from Moab with Naomi.H5288H5324H7114H6030H559H4125H5291H7725H5281H7704H41247She said, 'Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.' She went into the field and has worked steadily from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter."H559H3950H622H310H7114H6016H935H5975H227H1242H3427H4592H10048So Boaz said to Ruth, "My daughter, listen to me. Don't go and glean in another field and don't go away from here. Stay here with my servant girls.H559H1162H7327H8085H1323H3212H3950H312H7704H5674H1692H52919Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the girls. I have told the men not to touch you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled."H5869H7704H7114H1980H310H6680H5288H5060H6770H1980H3627H8354H5288H757910At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She exclaimed, "Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me--a foreigner?"H5307H6440H7812H776H559H4672H2580H5869H5234H523711Boaz replied, "I've been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband--how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before.H1162H6030H559H5046H5046H6213H2545H310H4194H376H5800H1H517H776H4138H3212H5971H3045H8543H803212May the LORD repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge."H3068H7999H6467H8003H4909H3068H430H3478H3671H935H262013"May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord," she said. "You have given me comfort and have spoken kindly to your servant--though I do not have the standing of one of your servant girls."H559H4672H2580H5869H113H5162H1696H3820H8198H259H819814At mealtime Boaz said to her, "Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar." When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over.H1162H559H6256H400H5066H1988H398H3899H2881H6595H2558H3427H6654H7114H6642H7039H398H7646H349815As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, "Even if she gathers among the sheaves, don't embarrass her.H6965H3950H1162H6680H5288H559H3950H6016H363716Rather, pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don't rebuke her."H7997H6653H7997H5800H3950H160517So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah.H3950H7704H6153H2251H3950H374H818418She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over after she had eaten enough.H5375H935H5892H2545H7200H3950H3318H5414H3498H764819Her mother-in-law asked her, "Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!" Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. "The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz," she said.H2545H559H3950H3117H375H6213H1288H5234H5046H2545H6213H559H376H8034H6213H3117H116220"The LORD bless him!" Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. "He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead." She added, "That man is our close relative; he is one of our kinsman-redeemers."H5281H559H3618H1288H3068H5800H2617H2416H4191H5281H559H376H7138H135021Then Ruth the Moabitess said, "He even said to me, 'Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain.'"H7327H4125H559H559H1692H5288H3615H710522Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, "It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with his girls, because in someone else's field you might be harmed."H5281H559H7327H3618H2896H1323H3318H5291H6293H312H770423So Ruth stayed close to the servant girls of Boaz to glean until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.H1692H5291H1162H3950H3615H8184H7105H2406H7105H3427H2545