Ruth Chapter 2
Ruth Meets Boaz
1 Naomi’s husband Elimelech had a wealthy relative named Boaz. 2 Ruth said to Naomi, “Let me go glean among the heads of grain after one that might take an interest in me.”
“Go ahead, my daughter.”
3 She went and gleaned behind the harvest crew. She happened to come to the part of the field that belonged to Boaz. 4 He came from Bethlehem and said to the crew, “The LORD be with you.”
They said, “The LORD bless you.”
5 He asked the crew chief, “Whose young woman is this?”
6 “She’s the Moabite that came back with Naomi. 7 She asked to glean behind the harvest crew among the bundles. She came and stayed since morning. She’s been sitting in the house for a little while.”
Ruth 2:1-7
8 Boaz told Ruth,
“Listen carefully, my daughter. Don’t glean anywhere else. Stay here with my maids. 9 Watch which field they harvest and follow them. I’ve warned the young men not to bother you. When you’re thirsty, go to the water jars and drink what the servants draw.”
10 She fell on her face, bowing to the ground, “Why have I been pleasing enough to you that you’ve paid attention to me? I’m a foreigner.”
11 Boaz said,
“I’ve heard what you’ve done for your mother-in-law after her husband died: you left your parents and the land where you were born and came to people you didn’t know. 12 May the LORD God of Israel reward your work and pay your wages in full under whose wings you’ve taken refuge.
13 She said, “You’ve been gracious to me, my lord. You’ve comforted me and talked nice to me, though I’m not one of your workers.”
Ruth 2:8-13
14 At mealtime Boaz told her, “Come and eat some bread and dip your piece in the wine.” She sat beside the harvest crew, and he served her roasted grain. She ate till she was satisfied and had some left over. 15 When she got up to glean, Boaz told his men, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and don’t get after her for it. 16 Pull some out from the bundles and leave it for her. Don’t fuss at her.”
17 She gleaned in the field till evening. When she beat out what she’d gleaned, it was about 1.1 bushels 1 ephah of barley. 18 She picked it up and went into town, and her mother-in-law saw it. She gave Naomi what she had left after she’d had enough.
Ruth 2:14-18
19 Her mother-in-law said, “Where’d you glean today? Where’d you work? May he who noticed you be fortunate.”
“I worked with a man named Boaz.”
20 “The LORD bless him. He hasn’t withdrawn his kindness to the living and the dead. He’s one of our closest relatives.”
21 Ruth said, “Besides, he told me to stay close to his workmen till they’ve finished his harvest.’”
22 Naomi said “It’s good for you to go out with his maids so others won’t harm you in another field.”
23 She gleaned close by Boaz’s maids till the end of barley harvest and wheat harvest. She was living with her mother-in-law.
Ruth 2:19-23