Ruth Meets Boaz

1And Noemin had a friend an acquaintance of her husband, and the man was a mighty man of the kindred of Elimelech, and his name was Booz. 2And Ruth the Moabitess said to Noemin, Let me go now to the field, and I will glean among the ears behind the man with whomsoever I shall find favour: and she said to her, Go, daughter. 3And she went; and came and gleaned in the field behind the reapers; and she happened by chance to come on a portion of the land of Booz, of the kindred of Elimelech. 4And, behold, Booz came from Bethleem, and said to the reapers, The Lord be with you: and they said to him, The Lord bless thee. 5And Booz said to his servant who was set over the reapers, Whose is this damsel? 6And his servant who was set over the reapers answered and said, It is the Moabitish damsel who returned with Noemin out of the land of Moab. 7And she said, I pray you, let me glean and gather among the sheaves after the reapers: and she came and stood from morning till evening, and rested not even a little in the field.

Boaz Shows Favor to Ruth

8And Booz said to Ruth, Hast thou not heard, my daughter? go not to glean in another field; and depart not thou hence, join thyself here with my damsels. 9Let thine eyes be on the field where my men shall reap, and thou shalt go after them: behold, I have charged the young men not to touch thee: and when you shalt thirst, then thou shalt go to the vessels, and drink of that which the young men shall have drawn. 10And she fell upon her face, and did reverence to the ground, and said to him, How is it that I have found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take notice of me, whereas I am a stranger? 11And Booz answered and said to her, It has fully been told me how thou hast dealt with thy mother-in-law after the death of thy husband; and how thou didst leave thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy birth, and camest to a people whom thou knewest not before. 12The Lord recompense thy work; may a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, to whom thou hast come to trust under his wings. 13And she said, Let me find grace in thy sight, my lord, because thou hast comforted me, and because thou hast spoken kindly to thy handmaid, and behold, I shall be as one of thy servants.

14And Booz said to her, Now it is time to eat; come hither, and thou shalt eat of the bread, and thou shalt dip thy morsel in the vinegar: and Ruth sat by the side of the reapers: and Booz handed her meal, and she ate, and was satisfied, and left. 15And she rose up to glean; and Booz charged his young men, saying, Let her even glean among the sheaves, and reproach her not. 16And do ye by all means carry it for her, and ye shall surely let fall for her some of that which is heaped up; and let her eat, and glean, and rebuke her not.

17So she gleaned in the field till evening, and beat out that she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barely. 18And she took it up, and went into the city: and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned, and Ruth brought forth and gave to her the food which she had left from what she had been satisfied with. 19And her mother-in-law said to her, Where hast thou gleaned to-day, and where hast thou wrought? blessed be he that took notice of thee. And Ruth told her mother-in-law where she had wrought, and said, The name of the man with whom I wrought to-day is Booz. 20And Noemin said to her daughter-in-law, Blessed is he of the Lord, because he has not failed in his mercy with the living and with the dead: and Noemin said to her, The man is near akin to us, he is one of our relations. 21And Ruth said to her mother-in-law, Yea, he said also to me, Keep close to my damsels, until the men shall have finished all my reaping. 22And Noemin said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, It is well, daughter, that thou wentest out with his damsels; thus they shall not meet thee in another field. 23And Ruth joined herself to the damsels of Booz to glean until they had finished the barley-harvest and the wheat-harvest.