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Ruth 2
Evangelical Heritage Version
Ruth 2
Evangelical Heritage Version
Ruth Meets Boaz
2 Now Naomi had a relative[a] of her husband, a wealthy, generous[b] man from the clan of Elimelek. His name was Boaz.
2 Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “I am going to go out to the fields, so that I can glean[c] ears of grain wherever I may find favor in the eyes of the owner.” Naomi said to her, “Go ahead, my daughter.”
3 So Ruth went out and gleaned in the grain fields after the reapers. It happened that she was in the field that belonged to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek. 4 At just that time, Boaz happened to come out from Bethlehem. He said to the reapers, “The Lord be with you!”
And they said to him, “The Lord bless you!”
5 Then Boaz asked his servant who was in charge of the reapers, “Whose young woman is this?”
6 The servant who was in charge of the reapers answered, “She is the young Moabite woman who returned with Naomi from the territory of Moab. 7 She said, ‘Please let me follow the reapers and glean and gather stalks into sheaves.’ So she came and has been working from early morning till now—except for a short rest in the shelter.”[d]
8 Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter.[e] Do not go off to glean in some other field. In fact, do not leave this one at all! Just stick close to my young women here.[f] 9 Keep your eyes on the field where the men are reaping so that you can follow my women. I have commanded the young men not to touch you. When you are thirsty, you may go to the jars and drink from whatever the young men draw out.”
10 Then Ruth bowed down with her face to the ground. She said to Boaz, “Why have I found favor in your eyes, so that you acknowledge me even though I am a foreigner?”
11 Boaz replied to her, “I have been fully informed about all that you did for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband and how you left behind your father and mother and the homeland of your relatives, and you came to a people whom you did not know previously. 12 May the Lord reward your work, and may you be paid in full by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge!”
13 Then Ruth said, “I have found such favor in your eyes, my lord, for you have comforted me and you have spoken to the heart of your servant girl—although I cannot be compared to one of your servant girls.”
14 At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come here and eat some of the food, and dip your piece of bread into the sour wine.”[g] So she sat down beside the reapers, and Boaz heaped up a serving of roasted grain for her. She ate until she was full and had some left over.
15 When she got up to glean, Boaz ordered his workers, “She may glean even among our sheaves. You are not to humiliate her in any way. 16 In fact, you can even pull out some stalks from the piles for her, and you can drop them on purpose so that she can glean them, and do not rebuke her at all.”
17 So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed what she had gleaned. It amounted to almost a bushel[h] of barley.
18 When she picked it up and went into town, her mother-in-law saw how much she had gleaned. Ruth also took what she had left over from her meal and gave it to Naomi.
19 Then her mother-in-law said to her, “Where did you glean today and where did you work? May the man who took notice of you be blessed!”
So she told her mother-in-law in whose field she had worked: “The name of the man in whose field I worked today is Boaz.”
20 Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by the Lord, whose faithfulness[i] has not forsaken[j] the living and the dead!”
Naomi also said to her, “This man is related to us. He is even one of our family’s redeemers.”[k]
21 Then Ruth the Moabite said, “He even said to me, ‘Stick close to my workers until they have finished all of the harvest on the land that belongs to me.’”
22 Then Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you can go out with his young women, so that you will not be molested by men in some other field.”
23 So Ruth stuck close to Boaz’s young women and gleaned until the completion of the barley harvest and the wheat harvest, and she lived with her mother-in-law.
Footnotes
- Ruth 2:1 Or acquaintance
- Ruth 2:1 The same Hebrew expression includes the meanings wealthy and generous.
- Ruth 2:2 Gleaning was a custom that allowed poor people to follow the harvesters and to pick up any grain that had been missed or had been dropped by the harvesters. See Deuteronomy 24:19.
- Ruth 2:7 Literally house. The Hebrew of the verse is difficult, and translations vary in their understanding.
- Ruth 2:8 Daughter is a cordial term, but it also indicates that the person addressed has a lower social status than the speaker does. It may also indicate a difference of age.
- Ruth 2:8 Boaz’s men were cutting the grain, and his women were gathering it. By receiving permission to be right with Boaz’s women, Ruth was placed into an advantageous position for gleaning.
- Ruth 2:14 In days before pasteurization and refrigeration, sweet wine quickly became sour. This sour wine was the daily beverage of workers and soldiers. When it was too sour to drink, it was vinegar.
- Ruth 2:17 Literally about an ephah, which is about ⅔ of a bushel. This may be about thirty pounds, though estimates of the weight of an ephah vary greatly.
- Ruth 2:20 Or mercy
- Ruth 2:20 Or who has not withdrawn his kindness to
- Ruth 2:20 The redeemer (Hebrew goel) was a kind of guardian who gave legal and financial support to less-well-off relatives. The goel also served as the avenger of blood.
Ruth 2
New International Version
Ruth 2
New International Version
Ruth Meets Boaz in the Grain Field
2 Now Naomi had a relative(A) on her husband’s side, a man of standing(B) from the clan of Elimelek,(C) whose name was Boaz.(D)
2 And Ruth the Moabite(E) said to Naomi, “Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain(F) behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor.(G)”
Naomi said to her, “Go ahead, my daughter.” 3 So she went out, entered a field and began to glean behind the harvesters.(H) As it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek.(I)
4 Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, “The Lord be with you!(J)”
“The Lord bless you!(K)” they answered.
5 Boaz asked the overseer of his harvesters, “Who does that young woman belong to?”
6 The overseer replied, “She is the Moabite(L) who came back from Moab with Naomi. 7 She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves(M) behind the harvesters.’ She came into the field and has remained here from morning till now, except for a short rest(N) in the shelter.”
8 So Boaz said to Ruth, “My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another field and don’t go away from here. Stay here with the women who work for me. 9 Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the women. I have told the men not to lay a hand on you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.”
10 At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground.(O) She asked him, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me(P)—a foreigner?(Q)”
11 Boaz replied, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law(R) since the death of your husband(S)—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know(T) before.(U) 12 May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord,(V) the God of Israel,(W) under whose wings(X) you have come to take refuge.(Y)”
13 “May I continue to find favor in your eyes,(Z) my lord,” she said. “You have put me at ease by speaking kindly to your servant—though I do not have the standing of one of your servants.”
14 At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come over here. Have some bread(AA) and dip it in the wine vinegar.”
When she sat down with the harvesters,(AB) he offered her some roasted grain.(AC) She ate all she wanted and had some left over.(AD) 15 As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, “Let her gather among the sheaves(AE) and don’t reprimand her. 16 Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don’t rebuke(AF) her.”
17 So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed(AG) the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah.[a](AH) 18 She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over(AI) after she had eaten enough.
19 Her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!(AJ)”
Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. “The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz,” she said.
20 “The Lord bless him!(AK)” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law.(AL) “He has not stopped showing his kindness(AM) to the living and the dead.” She added, “That man is our close relative;(AN) he is one of our guardian-redeemers.[b](AO)”
21 Then Ruth the Moabite(AP) said, “He even said to me, ‘Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain.’”
22 Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with the women who work for him, because in someone else’s field you might be harmed.”
23 So Ruth stayed close to the women of Boaz to glean until the barley(AQ) and wheat harvests(AR) were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.
Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.
New International Version (NIV) 
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NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.