Ruth

18 Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to come with her, and she spoke to her 19 nomore. The two of them walked on until they came to Bethlehem; and when they arrived at Bethlehem the whole town crowded round, the women saying, “Can this be Naomi?” 20 She said, “Call me not Naomi. Call me Bitter, for the Almighty has made my 21 life bitter beyond words. I was full when I left this place, and empty has the Lorp returned me. Why call me, ‘Naomi’? The Lorp has spoken up against me, the Almighty, and ruined me.” 22, This is how Naomi, returning from the land of Moab, and, with her, her daugh- ter-in-law, Ruth the Moabitess, returned. And they arrived at Bethlehem just as the barley harvest began. 21 Naomi had 3 relation from her husband Elimelekh’s family: a man of substance 2 and great strength; his name was Boaz. Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “I shall go and gather the fallen grains among the barley-stalks - go after anyone 3 who should show me favor.’ Naomi said, “Go then, my daughter.” And so she went, to gather in the field after the harvestmen. And it was the field-plot of Boaz she chanced to come to; that man of Elimelekh’s family. 4 And there, indeed, came Boaz, arriving from Bethlehem, and saying to the harvestmen, “The Lorn be with you.” “Be blessed of the Lorp,” they replied. 5 “Whose is that young woman over there?” asked Boaz of his servant, who was 6 in charge of the harvestmen. “That is some Moabite girl,” replied the servant in charge of the harvestmen, “the one who came back with Naomi from the land of 7 Moab. She said, ‘Let me come gleaning, gathering the fallen grains from among the bundles, where the harvestmen have been’; and so she came, and has been standing out here from early morning until now, and hardly sat at all in the shelter.” 8 Boaz went to Ruth and said, “Daughter, take heed. Do not go gleaning in any 9 other field, and do not leave this one; cling close by my young women. Keep your eyes on the field they are harvesting from and follow after them. I have instructed the young men, of course, not to touch you. When you are thirsty, go to the jugs and drink of the water the young men have drawn.” 10 Ruth bowed down low, to the ground, and she asked him, “Why is it that I have found favor in your eyes, that you give me recognition such as this, when Iam a stranger?” 11 Boaz said, “I have heard what you have done for your mother-in-law, since your husband died; of how you left your father, your mother, the land of your birth, 12 and came to a people you knew not the day before. May the Lorn repay your labors; may your reward be full, at the hand of the Lorn, the God of Israel, under whose mantle you come to take shelter.”