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Chapters: 1 2 3 4
Theme: The story of Ruth begins in the days of the judges. Elimelech escapes a famine by going to Moab. He and his wife and their two sons remained in Moab for more then ten years. After Elimelech's death, Naomi returns to Bethlehem with Ruth. Boaz and Ruth's first son, Obed, becomes the grandfather of David. Ruth 1 __4-6_The sons each took Moabite women as wives. One was named Orpha and the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years. Then both Mahlon and Chilion died and Naomi was bereft of her husband both of her sons. Hearing that the famine had passed in Judah, she and her daughters-in-law decided to go there.
__7-13_As they started out Naomi suggested that her two daughters-in-law would be better off returning to their mother's house. May the LORD grant you rest and new husbands, she said as she kissed them. They wept and said they should go with her to Judah. She said she could not give them any support.
__14-16_They wept and Orpha kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. Naomi said, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her gods. Return with your sister-in-law. But Ruth said, do not urge me to leave you, for where you go I will go and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people and your God shall be mine.
__17-19_Where you die, I will die and there I will be buried. May the LORD do to me and worse if anything but death parts us. Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, so she said no more. They both went to Bethlehem and the whole city was stirred at the sight of them. The women said, is this Naomi?
__20-22_Naomi said, do not call me Naomi, but rather Mara, for the Almighty has dealt bitterly with me. I went out full but the LORD has brought me back empty. So Naomi returned from Moab with Ruth the Moabitess. They came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.
Ruth 2 When Boaz arrived, he greeted the reapers, saying, may the LORD be with you. And they would reply, may the LORD bless you.
__5-7_Boaz noticed Ruth and asked his servant in charge of the reapers, who she belonged to. The servant said she was the young Moabite woman who had returned with Naomi from the land of Moab. She asked permission to glean and has been with us all morning and has been sitting in the house only a little while.
__8-9_Then Boaz said to Ruth, listen carefully, my daughter. Do not glean in another field. Stay here with my maids. Watch where they reap and follow after them. I have instructed the servants not to touch you. When you are thirsty drink from what the servants have drawn.
__10-11_Then Ruth bowed to the ground and asked why she had found such favor in with him. Boaz answered, I have heard all that you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband, leaving the land of your birth and coming to a people you did not previously know.
__12-13_May the LORD reward your work and your wages be full from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge. Then Ruth said, I have found favor in your sight, my llord, for you have spoken kindly to me, even though I am not one of your maidservants.
__14-15_At meal time Boaz offered her bread and vinegar to dip it in. She sat beside the reapers and he served her roasted grain. She ate and was satisfied and had some left. When she rose to glean, Boaz commanded his servants to let her glean among the sheaves and not to insult her.
__16-18_Boaz said that they should purposely pull out some of the grain from the bundles leaving it for her to glean. So she gleaned in the field until evening. After she had beaten it out she had about an ephah (30 pounds or about five gallons) of barley. She took it home and gave Naomi what she hadn't eaten at dinner.
__19-20_Her mother-in-law asked her where she had gleaned? Someone had surely taken notice of her. She told her mother-in-law that the name of the man in whose field she had gleaned that day was Boaz. Naomi said, may he be blessed of the LORD for his kindness to the living and the dead. The man is one of our closest relatives.
__21-23_Furthermore, Ruth said, he told me to stay close to his servants until the harvest is finished. Naomi said to Ruth, it is good that you go out with his maids, lest others cause you trouble in the field. So she stayed close by the maids of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the barley harvest. And she lived with her mother-in-law.
Ruth 3 __4-7_Take note of where he lies down. Wait until he is asleep and then uncover his feet and lie down by them. He will tell you what you are to do. Ruth did just as her mother-in-law had commanded her. When Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was merry, he lay down at the end of the heap of grain. Then she came secretly, uncovered his feet and lay down.
__8-9_In the middle of the night the man was startled and sat up. Bending forward, he saw a woman lying at his feet. He said, who are you? She answered, I am Ruth, your maid. So spread your covering over your maid, for you are a close relative.
__10-11_Then he said, may you be blessed of the LORD, my daughter. You have shown your last kindness to be better than the first, by not going after young men, whether poor or rich. And now my daughter, you may be sure that I will do for you whatever you ask, for everyone knows you to be a woman of excellence.
__12-13_Though it is true that I am a close relative, there is one closer. Remain here for the night and I will see if he will redeem you. If he does not wish to redeem you, then I will. Lie down until morning.
__14-15_So she lay at his feet until morning and rose before one could recognize another. He said don't let anyone know that the woman came to the threshing floor. He asked her to hold out her cloak while he measured out six measures (about sixty pounds) of grain for her to take home. Then she went into the city.
__16-18_Arriving home Ruth told Naomi that Boaz had said not to go to her mother-in-law empty handed. And she told her all that the man had done for her. Naomi advised her to wait at home until it was known how the matter would turn out. The man will not rest until he has settled it today.
Ruth 4 __4-5_I am inviting you to redeem the land with these elders as witness. If you are not willing, then I will redeem it. The closest relative agreed to redeem it. Then Boaz said to him, on the day you buy it you must acquire Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of the deceased, in order to raise up the name of the deceased for his inheritance.
__6-7_The closest relative said, I cannot redeem it, lest I jeopardize my own inheritance. You may have my right of redemption. It was a custom in former times in Israel where the redemption of land was involved, for a man to remove his sandal and give it to another. It was an attestation to the closing of the matter.
__8-9_So the closest relative said to Boaz, buy it yourself. And he removed his sandal. Then Boaz said to the elders, you are witness today that I have bought from Naomi the land which belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and Mahlon.
__10_Moreover, I have acquired Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Chilion to be my wife and to raise up the name of the deceased on his inheritance so that his name will not be cut off from his brothers or from the court of his birth place. You are witnesses today.
__11-12_And the people who were in the court and the elders said, we are witnesses. May the LORD make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who built the house of Israel. May you achieve wealth in Ephrathah and become famous in Bethlehem. And may your house become like the house of Perez whom Tamar bore to Judah.
__13-15_So Boaz took Ruth as his wife. The LORD enabled her to conceive and she had a son. The women said to Naomi, blessed is the LORD who has not left you without a redeemer today. May his name become famous in Israel. May he sustain you in your old age. You have a daughter-in-law who loves you and is better to you than seven sons.
__16-17_Naomi took the child and laid him in her lap and became his nurse. The neighbor women gave him a name saying, a son has been born to Naomi. So they named him Obed. He is the father of Jesse who became the father of David.
__18-22_Now these are the generations from Perez to David. Chapters: 1 2 3 4
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