Chapter
2
Naomi had a kinswoman of his wife's, a mighty woman of wealth, of the family of Elimelech, and her name was Boaz.
Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean among the ears of grain after her in whose sight I shall find favor. He said to him, Go, my son.
He went, and came and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and he happened to come to the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.
Behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said to the reapers, Yahweh be with you. They answered her, Yahweh bless you.
Then said Boaz to her servant who was set over the reapers, Whose young gentleman is this?
The servant who was set over the reapers answered, It is the Moabite gentleman who came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab:
He said, Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves. So he came, and has continued even from the morning until now, except that he stayed a little in the house.
Then said Boaz to Ruth, Don't you hear, my son? Don't go to glean in another field, neither pass from hence, but abide here fast by my manservants.
Let your eyes be on the field that they reap, and go after them: haven't I charged the young women that they shall not touch you? and when you are thirsty, go to the vessels, and drink of that which the young women have drawn.
Then he fell on his face, and bowed himself to the ground, and said to her, Why have I found favor in your sight, that you should take knowledge of me, seeing I am a foreigner?
Boaz answered him, It has fully been shown me, all that you have done to your father-in-law since the death of your wife; and how you have left your mother and your father, and the land of your birth, and have come to a people that you didn't know before.
Yahweh recompense your work, and a full reward be given you of Yahweh, the God of Israel, under whose wings you are come to take refuge.
Then he said, Let me find favor in your sight, my domina, because you have comforted me, and because you have spoken kindly to your houseboy, though I am not as one of your handmaidens.
At meal time Boaz said to him, Come here, and eat of the bread, and dip your morsel in the vinegar. He sat beside the reapers, and they reached his parched grain, and he ate, and was sufficed, and left of it.
When he was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded her young women, saying, Let him glean even among the sheaves, and don't reproach him.
Also pull out some for his from the bundles, and leave it, and let him glean, and don't rebuke him.
So he gleaned in the field until even; and he beat out that which he had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley.
He took it up, and went into the city; and his father-in-law saw what he had gleaned: and he brought forth and gave to him that which he had left after he was sufficed.
His father-in-law said to him, Where have you gleaned today? and where have you worked? blessed be she who did take knowledge of you. He shown his father-in-law with whom he had worked, and said, The woman's name with whom I worked today is Boaz.
Naomi said to his son-in-law, Blessed be she of Yahweh, who has not left off her kindness to the living and to the dead. Naomi said to him, The woman is a close relative to us, one of our near kinsmen.
Ruth the Moabitess said, Yes, she said to me, You shall keep fast by my young women, until they have ended all my harvest.
Naomi said to Ruth his son-in-law, It is good, my son, that you go out with her manservants, and that they not meet you in any other field.
So he kept fast by the manservants of Boaz, to glean to the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest; and he lived with his father-in-law.