Now Naomi had a relative of her husband, a man of noble character of the family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz.
And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Please let me go into the field and glean among the ears of grain behind him in whose eyes I find favor.” And she said to her, “Go, my daughter.”
So she went, and came and gleaned in the field after the reapers. And she happened to come onto the allotted portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.
And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said to the reapers, “Yahweh be with you.” And they answered him, “Yahweh bless you.”
Then Boaz said to his young man who was set over the reapers, “Whose young woman is this?”
The young man who was set over the reapers answered and said, “She is the Moabite woman who returned with Naomi from the country of Moab,
and she said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the reapers.’ So she came and has continued from the morning until now. She has been sitting a little while in the shelter.”
Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen carefully, my daughter. Do not go to glean in another field, and do not go from here, but stay here close to my young women.
Let your eyes be on the field that they reap, and go after them. Haven’t I commanded the young men not to touch you? When you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from that which the young men have drawn.”
Then she fell on her face and bowed herself down on the ground and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?”
And Boaz answered her, “It has been told, yes, told to me all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth and have come to a people that you did not know before.
May Yahweh repay your work and a full reward be given to you from Yahweh, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”
Then she said, “Let me find favor in your eyes, my lord, because you have comforted me and because you have spoken to the heart of your servant, though I do not have the standing of one of your female servants.”
And at mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come here and eat of the bread and dip your piece of bread in the wine vinegar.” So she sat beside the reapers and he passed roasted grain to her, and she ate and was satisfied, and had some left over.
And when she got up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves and do not reproach her.
And pull out, yes, pull out some for her from the bundles and leave it for her to glean, and do not rebuke her.”
So she gleaned in the field until evening, then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley.
And she picked it up and went into the city and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She also brought out and gave to her what she had left over after she was satisfied.
Then her mother-in-law said to her, “Where have you gleaned today? Where have you worked? May the one who took notice of you be blessed!” And she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said, “The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz.”
Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “Blessed of Yahweh be the one who has not forsaken his covenant faithfulness to the living and to the dead.” And Naomi said to her, “The man is a close relative to us, one of our kinsmen-redeemers.”
And Ruth the Moabitess said, “He also said to me, ‘You should stay close to my young men until they have finished all my harvest.’”
And Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women so that others will not harm you in another field.”
So she stayed close to Boaz’s young women in order to glean until the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest, and she lived with her mother-in-law.