1Naomi had a relative on her husband's side, a wealthy and influential man from Elimelech's family, whose name was Boaz.
2Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, "Please let me go to the field and gather grain behind anyone who is kind enough to let me." Naomi told her, "Go, my daughter."
3So she left and went to gather grain in the field behind the harvesters. It just so happened that she came to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was from Elimelech's family.
4Just then, Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and said to the harvesters, "May Yahweh be with you." They answered him, "May Yahweh bless you."
5Then Boaz asked his servant who was in charge of the harvesters, "Whose young woman is this?"
6The servant in charge of the harvesters answered, "She is the Moabite woman who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab.
7She asked, 'Please let me gather and collect grain among the bundles behind the harvesters.' So she came and has been working steadily from morning until now, except for a short rest in the shelter."
8Then Boaz said to Ruth, "Listen, my daughter. Don't go to gather grain in another field, and don't leave this one. Stay here close to my female servants.
9Watch the field where they are harvesting, and follow behind them. Haven't I told the young men not to bother you? When you get thirsty, go to the water jars and drink what the young men have drawn."
10She bowed down with her face to the ground and said to him, "Why have I found such kindness in your eyes that you notice me, even though I am a foreigner?"
11Boaz answered her, "I have been fully informed of everything you have done for your mother-in-law since your husband's death, and how you left your father and mother and your native land to come to a people you did not know before.
12May Yahweh repay you for what you have done. May you receive a full reward from Yahweh, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge."
13Then she said, "May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord. You have comforted me and spoken kindly to your servant, even though I am not equal to one of your servants."
14At mealtime Boaz told her, “Come over here and eat some bread. Dip your food in the vinegar.” So she sat next to the harvesters, and they passed her roasted grain. She ate until she was full and even had some left over.
15When she got up to gather more grain, Boaz told his young men, “Let her gather grain even among the bundles of cut grain, and don’t bother her.
16Also, pull out some stalks of grain from the bundles and leave them for her. Let her gather them, and don’t scold her.”
17So she gathered grain in the field until evening. Then she beat out the grain she had gathered, and it was about 36 pounds of barley.
18She picked it up and went into town. Her mother-in-law saw what she had gathered. Ruth also took out and gave Naomi the food she had left over after she was full.
19Her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you gather grain today? Where did you work? May the person who noticed you be blessed.” Ruth told her mother-in-law who she had worked with. She said, “The man I worked with today is named Boaz.”
20Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May Yahweh bless him, because he has continued to show kindness to both the living and the dead.” Naomi also told her, “The man is a close relative of ours, one of our family guardians.”
21Ruth, the Moabite woman, said, “He even told me, ‘Stay close to my young men until they have finished all my harvest.’”
22Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, for you to go out with his female servants so that people don't bother you in any other field.”
23So she stayed close to Boaz’s female servants, gathering grain until both the barley harvest and the wheat harvest were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.