Rut

^1:1It happened in the days when the judges judged, that there was a famine in the land. A certain man of Beit-Lechem-Yehudah went to sojourn in the country of Mo'av, he, and his wife, and his two sons. ^1:2The name of the man was Elimelekh, and the name of his wife Na`omi, and the name of his two sons Machlon and Kilyon, Efratites of Beit-Lechem-Yehudah. They came into the country of Mo'av, and continued there. ^1:3Elimelekh, Na`omi's husband, died; and she was left, and her two sons. ^1:4They took them wives of the women of Mo'av; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Rut: and they lived there about ten years. ^1:5Machlon and Kilyon died both of them; and the woman was left of her two children and of her husband. ^1:6Then she arose with her daughters-in-law, that she might return from the country of Mo'av: for she had heard in the country of Mo'av how that the LORD had visited his people in giving them bread. ^1:7She went forth out of the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her; and they went on the way to return to the land of Yehudah. ^1:8Na`omi said to her two daughters-in-law, Go, return each of you to her mother's house: the LORD deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead, and with me. ^1:9The LORD grant you that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voice, and wept. ^1:10They said to her, No, but we will return with you to your people. ^1:11Na`omi said, Turn again, my daughters: why will you go with me? have I yet sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? ^1:12Turn again, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say, I have hope, if I should even have a husband tonight, and should also bear sons; ^1:13would you therefore wait until they were grown? would you therefore stay from having husbands? nay, my daughters, for it grieves me much for your sakes, for the hand of the LORD is gone forth against me. ^1:14They lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Rut joined with her. ^1:15She said, Behold, your sister-in-law is gone back to her people, and to her G-d: return you after your sister-in-law. ^1:16Rut said, "Don't entreat me to leave you, and to return from following after you, for where you go, I will go; and where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your G-d my G-d; ^1:17where you die, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if anything but death part you and me." ^1:18When she saw that she was steadfastly minded to go with her, she left off speaking to her. ^1:19So they two went until they came to Beit-Lechem. It happened, when they were come to Beit-Lechem, that all the city was moved about them, and the women said, Is this Na`omi? ^1:20She said to them, "Don't call me Na`omi, call me Mara; for Shaddai has dealt very bitterly with me. ^1:21I went out full, and the LORD has brought me home again empty; why do you call me Na`omi, seeing the LORD has testified against me, and Shaddai has afflicted me?" ^1:22So Na`omi returned, and Rut the Mo'avite, her daughter-in-law, with her, who returned out of the country of Mo'av: and they came to Beit-Lechem in the beginning of barley harvest.

^2:1Na`omi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelekh, and his name was Bo`az. ^2:2Rut the Mo'avite said to Na`omi, Let me now go to the field, and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor. She said to her, Go, my daughter. ^2:3She went, and came and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and she happened to come to the portion of the field belonging to Bo`az, who was of the family of Elimelekh. ^2:4Behold, Bo`az came from Beit-Lechem, and said to the reapers, the LORD be with you. They answered him, the LORD bless you. ^2:5Then said Bo`az to his servant who was set over the reapers, Whose young lady is this? ^2:6The servant who was set over the reapers answered, It is the Mo'avite lady who came back with Na`omi out of the country of Mo'av: ^2:7She said, Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves. So she came, and has continued even from the morning until now, except that she stayed a little in the house. ^2:8Then said Bo`az to Rut, Don't you hear, my daughter? Don't go to glean in another field, neither pass from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens. ^2:9Let your eyes be on the field that they reap, and go after them: haven't I charged the young men that they shall not touch you? and when you are thirsty, go to the vessels, and drink of that which the young men have drawn. ^2:10Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said to him, Why have I found favor in your sight, that you should take knowledge of me, seeing I am a foreigner? ^2:11Bo`az answered her, It has fully been shown me, all that you have done to 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 didn't know before. ^2:12The LORD recompense your work, and a full reward be given you of the LORD, the G-d of Yisra'el, under whose wings you are come to take refuge. ^2:13Then she said, Let me find favor in your sight, my lord, because you have comforted me, and because you have spoken kindly to your handmaid, though I am not as one of your handmaidens. ^2:14At meal-time Bo`az said to her, Come here, and eat of the bread, and dip your morsel in the vinegar. She sat beside the reapers, and they reached her parched grain, and she ate, and was sufficed, and left of it. ^2:15When she was risen up to glean, Bo`az commanded his young men, saying, Let her glean even among the sheaves, and don't reproach her. ^2:16Also pull out some for her from the bundles, and leave it, and let her glean, and don't rebuke her. ^2:17So she gleaned in the field until even; and she beat out that which she had gleaned, and it was about an efah of barley. ^2:18She took it up, and went into the city; and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned: and she brought forth and gave to her that which she had left after she was sufficed. ^2:19Her mother-in-law said to her, Where have you gleaned today? and where have you worked? blessed be he who did take knowledge of you. She shown her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, and said, The man's name with whom I worked today is Bo`az. ^2:20Na`omi said to her daughter-in-law, Blessed be he of the LORD, who has not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead. Na`omi said to her, The man is a close relative to us, one of our near kinsmen. ^2:21Rut the Mo'avite said, Yes, he said to me, You shall keep fast by my young men, until they have ended all my harvest. ^2:22Na`omi said to Rut 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. ^2:23So she kept fast by the maidens of Bo`az, to glean to the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest; and she lived with her mother-in-law.

^3:1Na`omi her mother-in-law said to her, My daughter, shall I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you? ^3:2Now isn't Bo`az our kinsman, with whose maidens you were? Behold, he winnows barley tonight in the threshing floor. ^3:3Wash yourself therefore, and anoint you, and put your clothing on you, and get you down to the threshing floor, but don't make yourself known to the man, until he shall have done eating and drinking. ^3:4It shall be, when he lies down, that you shall mark the place where he shall lie, and you shall go in, and uncover his feet, and lay you down; and he will tell you what you shall do. ^3:5She said to her, All that you say I will do. ^3:6She went down to the threshing floor, and did according to all that her mother-in-law bade her. ^3:7When Bo`az had eaten and drunk, and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain: and she came softly, and uncovered his feet, and laid her down. ^3:8It happened at midnight, that the man was afraid, and turned himself; and, behold, a woman lay at his feet. ^3:9He said, Who are you? She answered, I am Rut your handmaid: spread therefore your skirt over your handmaid; for you are a near kinsman. ^3:10He said, Blessed are you by the LORD, my daughter: you have shown more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning, inasmuch as you didn't follow young men, whether poor or rich. ^3:11Now, my daughter, don't be afraid; I will do to you all that you say; for all the city of my people does know that you are a worthy woman. ^3:12Now it is true that I am a near kinsman; however there is a kinsman nearer than I. ^3:13Stay this night, and it shall be in the morning, that 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 will I do the part of a kinsman to you, as the LORD lives: lie down until the morning. ^3:14She lay at his feet until the morning. She rose up before one could discern another. For he said, Let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor. ^3:15He said, Bring the mantle that is on you, and hold it; and she held it; and he measured six measures of barley, and laid it on her: and he went into the city. ^3:16When she came to her mother-in-law, she said, Who are you, my daughter? She told her all that the man had done to her. ^3:17She said, These six measures of barley gave he me; for he said, "Don't go empty to your mother-in-law." ^3:18Then said she, "Sit still, my daughter, until you know how the matter will fall; for the man will not rest, until he has finished the thing this day."

^4:1Now Bo`az went up to the gate, and sat him down there: and, behold, the near kinsman of whom Bo`az spoke came by; to whom he said, Ho, such a one! turn aside, sit down here. He turned aside, and sat down. ^4:2He took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit you down here. They sat down. ^4:3He said to the near kinsman, Na`omi, who has come back out of the country of Mo'av, is selling the parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelekh's: ^4:4I thought to disclose it to you, saying, Buy it before those who sit here, and before the elders of my people. 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. ^4:5Then said Bo`az, What day you buy the field of the hand of Na`omi, you must buy it also of Rut the Mo'avite, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance. ^4:6The near kinsman said, I can't redeem it for myself, lest I mar my own inheritance: take my right of redemption on you; for I can't redeem it. ^4:7Now this was the custom in former time in Yisra'el concerning redeeming and concerning exchanging, to confirm all things: a man drew off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbor; and this was the manner of attestation in Yisra'el. ^4:8So the near kinsman said to Bo`az, Buy it for yourself. He drew off his shoe. ^4:9Bo`az said to the elders, and to all the people, You are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelekh's, and all that was Kilyon's and Machlon's, of the hand of Na`omi. ^4:10Moreover Rut the Mo'avite, the wife of Machlon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance, that the name of the dead not be cut off from among his brothers, and from the gate of his place: you are witnesses this day. ^4:11All the people who were in the gate, and the elders, said, We are witnesses. The LORD make the woman who has come into your house like Rachel and like Le'ah, which two built the house of Yisra'el: and do you worthily in Efratah, and be famous in Beit-Lechem: ^4:12and let your house be like the house of Peretz, whom Tamar bore to Yehudah, of the seed which the LORD shall give you of this young woman. ^4:13So Bo`az took Rut, and she became his wife; and he went in to her, and the LORD gave her conception, and she bore a son. ^4:14The women said to Na`omi, Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without a near kinsman; and let his name be famous in Yisra'el. ^4:15He shall be to you a restorer of life, and sustain you in your old age, for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons, has borne him. ^4:16Na`omi took the child, and laid it in her bosom, and became nurse to it. ^4:17The women her neighbors gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Na`omi; and they named him `Oved: he is the father of Yishai, the father of David. ^4:18Now this is the history of the generations of Peretz: Peretz became the father of Chetzron, ^4:19and Chetzron became the father of Ram, and Ram became the father of `Amminadav, ^4:20and `Amminadav became the father of Nachshon, and Nachshon became the father of Salmon, ^4:21and Salmon became the father of Bo`az, and Bo`az became the father of `Oved, ^4:22and `Oved became the father of Yishai, and Yishai became the father of David.

Notes:

[1] back to 1:20 the Almighty

[2] back to 1:21 the Almighty

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