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The Book of Ruth



The Book of Ruth

Chapter 1

1 It came to pass in the days when the judges judged, there was a famine in the land. A certain man of Bethlehem-judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, his wife, and his two sons.

2 The name of the man was Elimelech, the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem-judah. They came into the country of Moab, and continued there.

3 Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died. She was left, and her two sons.

4 They took them wives of the women of Moab [Moabites were the children of Lot by his eldest daughter, Genesis 19:36-37]. The name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth. They dwelt there about ten years.

5 Mahlon and Chilion died, both of them. The woman was left of her two children, and of her husband.

6 She arose with her daughters-in-law, that she might return from the country of Moab. She heard in the country of Moab how Yahwah visited his people in giving them bread.

7 She went forth out of the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her. They went on the way to return to the land of Yahudah.

8 Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law: Go, return each of you to her mother's house. Yahwah deal kindly with you, as you dealt with the dead, and with me.

9 Yahwah grant you that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them, they lifted up their voice, and wept.

10 They said to her: Nay, we will return with you to your people.

11 Naomi said: Turn again, my daughters. Why will you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands?

12 Turn again, my daughters, go your way. I am too old to have a husband. Should I say: I have hope? If I should even have a husband tonight, and should also bear sons,

13 would you tarry till they were grown? Would you stay from having husbands? Nay, my daughters, it grieves me much for your sakes, for the hand of Yahwah is gone forth against me.

14 They lifted up their voice, and wept again. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clave to her.

15 She said: Behold, your sister-in-law is gone back to her people, and to her gods. Return after your sister-in-law.

16 Ruth said: Do not ask me to leave you, and to return from following after you. For where you go, I will go. Where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people are my people, and your Father my Father.

17 Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Yahwah do so to me, and more also, if anything but death part you and me.

18 When she saw she was stedfastly minded to go with her, she left off speaking to her.

19 So they two went until they came to Bethlehem. It came to pass, when they were come to Bethlehem, all the city was moved about them, and the women said: Is this Naomi?

20 She said to them: Do not call me Naomi, call me Mara. For the Almighty dealt very bitterly with me.

21 I went out full, and Yahwah brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi, seeing Yahwah testified against me, and the Almighty afflicted me?

22 So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her, who returned out of the country of Moab. They came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest.

Chapter 2

1 Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz.

2 Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi: Let me now go to the field, and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I will find favor. She said to her: Go, my daughter.

3 She went, came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers. She came to the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.

4 Behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said to the reapers: Yahwah is with you. They answered him: Yahwah bless you.

5 Then Boaz said to his servant that was set over the reapers: Whose damsel is this?

6 The servant that was set over the reapers answered, and said: It is the Moabitish damsel that came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab.

7 She said: Let me glean, I pray you, and gather after the reapers among the sheaves. So she came, and continued even from the morning until now, save that she tarried a little in the house.

8 Then Boaz said to Ruth: Hear me, my daughter? Do not go to glean in another field, neither pass from here, but abide here close by my maidens.

9 Let your eyes be on the field they reap, and you go after them. Have I not charged the young men that they will not touch you? When you are thirsty, go to the vessels, and drink of what the young men draw.

10 Then she fell on her face, bowed herself to the ground, and said to him: Why do I find favor in your sight, that you should take knowledge of me, seeing I am a foreigner?

11 Boaz answered, and said to her: It was fully showed me all you did to your mother-in-law since the death of your husband. How you left your father and your mother, the land of your nativity, and are come to a people you did not know before.

12 Yahwah recompense your work, and a full reward be given you of Yahwah, the Father of Yisrayah, under whose wings you are come to take refuge.

13 Then she said: Let me find favor in your sight, my master, for you comforted me, and you spoke kindly to your handmaid, though I am not as one of your handmaidens.

14 At meal-time Boaz said to her: Come here, eat of the bread, and dip your morsel in the vinegar. She sat beside the reapers, and they reached her parched grain. She ate, was sufficed, and left.

15 When she rose up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying: Let her glean even among the sheaves, do not reproach her.

16 Also pull out some for her from the bundles, and leave it. Let her glean, do not rebuke her.

17 So she gleaned in the field until evening. She beat out what she gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley.

18 She took it up, and went into the city. Her mother-in-law saw what she gleaned. She brought forth and gave to her what she had left after she was sufficed.

19 Her mother-in-law said to her: Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed is he who took knowledge of you. She showed her mother-in-law whom she worked with, and said: The man's name with whom I worked today is Boaz.

20 Naomi said to her daughter-in-law: Blessed is he of Yahwah, who did not leave off his kindness to the living, and to the dead. Naomi said to her: The man is near of kin to us, one of our near kinsmen.

21 Ruth the Moabitess said: Yea, he said to me; You will keep fast by my young men, until they end all my harvest.

22 Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law: It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his maidens, and that they not meet you in any other field.

23 So she kept close by the maidens of Boaz, to glean to the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest. She dwelt with her mother-in-law.

Chapter 3

1 Naomi her mother-in-law said to her: My daughter, will I not seek a husband for you, that it may be well with you?

2 Is Boaz not our kinsman, with whose maidens you were? Behold, he winnows barley tonight in the threshing-floor.

3 Wash yourself, anoint yourself, put your clothing upon you, and get you down to the threshing-floor, but do not make yourself known to the man until he is done eating and drinking.

4 It will be, when he lies down, you will mark the place where he lies. You will go in, uncover his feet, and lay down. He will tell you what you will do.

5 She said to her: I will do all you say.

6 She went down to the threshing-floor, and did according to all her mother-in-law bade her.

7 Boaz ate, drank, and his heart was merry. He went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. She came softly, uncovered his feet, and laid her down.

8 It came to pass at midnight, the man was afraid, and turned himself. Behold, a woman lay at his feet.

9 He said: Who are you? She answered: I am Ruth your handmaid. Marry your handmaid, for you are a near kinsman.

10 He said: Blessed are you of Yahwah, my daughter. You showed more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning, inasmuch as you did not follow young men, whether poor or rich.

11 My daughter, do not fear. I will do to you all you say, for all the city of my people knows you are a worthy woman.

12 Now it is true I am a near kinsman. However there is a kinsman nearer than I.

13 Tarry tonight. It will be in the morning, if he will perform to you the part of a kinsman, well. Let him do the kinsman's part. But if he will not do the part of a kinsman to you, then I will do the part of a kinsman to you, as Yahwah lives. Lie down until the morning.

14 She lay at his feet until the morning. She rose up before one could discern another. He said: Let it not be known the woman came to the threshing-floor.

15 He said: Bring the mantle that is upon you, and hold it. She held it. He measured six measures of barley, and laid it on her. He went into the city.

16 When she came to her mother-in-law, she said: Who are you, my daughter? She told her all the man did to her.

17 She said: He gave me these six measures of barley. He said: Do not go to your mother-in-law empty.

18 Then she said: Sit still, my daughter, until you know how the matter will fall. The man will not rest, until he finishes the thing today.

Chapter 4

1 Now Boaz went up to the gate, and sat him down there. Behold, the near kinsman of whom Boaz spoke came by, to whom he said: Come, such a one! Turn aside, sit down here. He turned aside, and sat down.

2 He took ten men of the elders of the city, and said: Sit you down here. They sat down.

3 He said to the near kinsman: Naomi, who is come again out of the country of Moab, sells the parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech's.

4 I thought to disclose it to you before those who sit here, and before the elders of my people, saying: Buy it. If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if you will not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know. For there is none to redeem it besides you, and I am after you. He said: I will redeem it.

5 Then Boaz said: The day you buy the field of the hand of Naomi, you must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance.

6 The near kinsman said: I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar my own inheritance. You take my right of redemption on you, for I cannot redeem it.

7 Now this was the custom in former time in Yisrayah concerning redeeming and concerning exchanging, to confirm all things. A man drew off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbor. This was the manner of attestation in Yisrayah.

8 So the near kinsman said to Boaz: Buy it for yourself. He drew off his shoe.

9 Boaz said to the elders, and to all the people: You are witnesses today, I bought all that was Elimelech's, and all that was Chilion's and Mahlon's, of the hand of Naomi.

10 Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, I purchase to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead is not cut off from among his brothers, and from the gate of his place. You are witnesses today.

11 All the people that were in the gate, and the elders, said: We are witnesses. Yahwah make the woman that is come into your house like Rachel, and like Leah, which two built the house of Yisrayah. You do worthily in Ephrathah, and be famous in Bethlehem.

12 Let your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Yahudah, of the seed Yahwah will give you of this young woman.

13 So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. He went in to her, Yahwah gave her conception, and she bore a son.

14 The women said to Naomi: Blessed is Yahwah, who did not leave you this day without a near kinsman. Let his name be famous in Yisrayah.

15 He will be a restorer of life to you, and a nourisher of your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons, bore him.

16 Naomi took the child, laid it in her bosom, and became nurse to it.

17 The women her neighbors gave it a name, saying: There is a son born to Naomi. They called his name Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

18 Now these are the generations of Perez: Perez begat Hezron,

19 Hezron begat Ram, Ram begat Amminadab,

20 Amminadab begat Nahshon, Nahshon begat Salmon,

21 Salmon begat Boaz, Boaz begat Obed,

22 Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David [the king].








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