The Bible

85 verses

Ruth Chapter 1

¹In the days when the judges judged, there was a famine in the land. A certain man of Bethlehem Judah went to live in the country of Moab with his wife and his two sons.

²The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi. The names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem Judah. They came into the country of Moab and lived there.

³Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died; and she was left with her two sons.

⁴They took for themselves wives of the women of Moab. The name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other was Ruth. They lived there about ten years.

⁵Mahlon and Chilion both died, and the woman was bereaved of her two children and of her husband.

⁶Then she arose with her daughters-in-law, that she might return from the country of Moab; for she had heard in the country of Moab how ForeverOne had visited his people in giving them bread.

⁷She left the place where she was with her two daughters-in-law, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah.

⁸Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Go, return each of you to your mother's house. May ForeverOne deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me.

⁹May ForeverOne 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 voices, and wept.

¹⁰They said to her, "No, but we will return with you to your people." ¹¹Naomi said, "Go back, my daughters. Why do you want to go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands?

¹²Go back, 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, ¹³would you then wait until they were grown? Would you then refrain from having husbands? No, my daughters, I am seriously grieved for your sakes, since the hand of ForeverOne has gone out against me." ¹⁴They lifted up their voices and wept again; then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth stayed with her.

¹⁵She said, "Behold, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods. Follow your sister-in-law." ¹⁶Ruth said, "Don't urge me to leave you, and to return from following you, for where you go, I will go; and where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people, and your God my God.

¹⁷Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May ForeverOne so deal with me, and even more, if anything but death parts you and me." ¹⁸When she saw that she was determined to go with her, she stopped speaking.

¹⁹So they two went until they came to Bethlehem. When they had come to Bethlehem, all the city was moved about them, and [the women] said, "Is this Naomi?" ²⁰She said to them, "Don't call me Naomi. Call me Mara; for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.

²¹I went out full, and ForeverOne has brought me home again empty; why do you call me Naomi, since ForeverOne has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?" ²²So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her, who returned out of the country of Moab: and they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.

Ruth Chapter 2

¹Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz.

²Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, "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." 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 Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.

⁴Behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said to the reapers, "ForeverOne be with you." They answered him, "ForeverOne bless you." ⁵Then Boaz said to his servant who was set over the reapers, "Whose young lady is this?" ⁶The servant who was set over the reapers answered, "It is the Moabite lady who came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab.

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." ⁸Then Boaz said to Ruth, "Listen, my daughter. Don't go to glean in another field, and don't go from here, but stay here close to my maidens.

⁹Let 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 what the young men have drawn." 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, since I am a foreigner?" ¹¹Boaz answered her, "It has fully been shown 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 didn't know before.

¹²May ForeverOne repay your work, and a full reward be given you from ForeverOne, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge." 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." ¹⁴At meal time Boaz 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 satisfied, and left some of it.

¹⁵When she had risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, "Let her glean even among the sheaves, and don't reproach her.

¹⁶Also pull out some for her from the bundles, and leave it, and let her glean, and don't rebuke her." ¹⁷So she gleaned in the field until evening; and she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley.

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 what she had left after she was sufficed.

¹⁹Her mother-in-law said to her, "Where have you gleaned today? Where have you worked? Blessed be he who noticed you." She showed her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, and said, "The man's name with whom I worked today is Boaz." ²⁰Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, "Blessed be he of ForeverOne, who has not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead." Naomi said to her, "The man is a close relative to us, one of our near kinsmen." ²¹Ruth the Moabitess said, "Yes, he said to me, 'You shall stay close to my young men, until they have ended all my harvest.'" ²²Naomi said to Ruth 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." ²³So she stayed close to the maidens of Boaz, to glean to the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest; and she lived with her mother-in-law.

Ruth Chapter 3

¹Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, "My daughter, shall I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you?

²Now isn't Boaz our kinsman, with whose maidens you were? Behold, he winnows barley tonight in the threshing floor.

³Therefore wash yourself, anoint yourself, get dressed, and go down to the threshing floor, but don't make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking.

⁴When he lies down you shall mark the place where he shall lie, and you shall go in, and uncover his feet, and lay down; then he will tell you what you shall do." ⁵She said to her, "All that you say I will do." ⁶She went down to the threshing floor, and did according to all that her mother-in-law told her.

⁷When Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. She came softly, uncovered his feet, and laid herself down.

⁸At midnight the man was startled and turned, and behold, a woman lay at his feet.

⁹He said, "Who are you?" She answered, "I am Ruth your handmaid. Therefore spread your skirt over your handmaid, for you are a near kinsman." ¹⁰He said, "Blessed are you by ForeverOne, 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.

¹¹Now, my daughter, don't be afraid; I will do for you all that you say; for all the city of my people does know that you are a worthy woman.

¹²Now it is true that I am a near kinsman; however there is a kinsman nearer than I.

¹³Stay this night, and it shall be in the morning, that if he will perform for 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 for you, then I will do the part of a kinsman for you, as ForeverOne lives. Lie down until the morning." 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." ¹⁵He said, "Bring the mantle that is on you, and hold it." She held it; and he measured six [measures] of barley, and laid it on her; and he went into the city.

¹⁶When she came to her mother-in-law, she said, "How did it go, my daughter?" She told her all that the man had done to her.

¹⁷She said, "He gave me these six [measures] of barley; for he said, 'Don't go empty-handed to your mother-in-law.'" ¹⁸Then she said, "Sit still, my daughter, until you know how the matter will fall; for the man will not rest, until he has finished the thing today."

Ruth Chapter 4

¹Now Boaz went up to the gate, and sat down there. Behold, the near kinsman of whom Boaz spoke came by; to whom he said, "Come over here, friend, and sit down!" He turned aside, and sat down.

²He took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, "Sit down here." They sat down.

³He said to the near kinsman, "Naomi, who has come back out of the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech's.

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 no one to redeem it besides you; and I am after you." He said, "I will redeem it." ⁵Then Boaz said, "On the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must buy it also from Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance." ⁶The near kinsman said, "I can't redeem it for myself, lest I mar my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption for yourself; for I can't redeem it." ⁷Now this was [the custom] in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning exchanging, to confirm all things: a man took off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbor; and this was the [way of] attestation in Israel.

⁸So the near kinsman said to Boaz, "Buy it for yourself." He took off his shoe.

⁹Boaz said to the elders, and to all the people, "You are witnesses today, that I have bought all that was Elimelech's, and all that was Chilion's and Mahlon's, from the hand of Naomi.

¹⁰Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, I have 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 today." ¹¹All the people who were in the gate, and the elders, said, "We are witnesses. May ForeverOne make the woman who has entered your house like Rachel and like Leah, which two built the house of Israel; and treat you worthily in Ephrathah, and be famous in Bethlehem.

¹²Let your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, of the offspring which ForeverOne shall give you of this young woman." ¹³So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife; and he went in to her, and ForeverOne gave her conception, and she bore a son.

¹⁴The women said to Naomi, "Blessed be ForeverOne, who has not left you today without a near kinsman; and let his name be famous in Israel.

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." ¹⁶Naomi took the child, and laid it in her bosom, and became nurse to it.

¹⁷The women, her neighbors, gave him a name, saying, "There is a son born to Naomi;" and they named him Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

¹⁸Now this is the history of the generations of Perez: Perez became the father of Hezron, ¹⁹and Hezron became the father of Ram, and Ram became the father of Amminadab, ²⁰and Amminadab became the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon became the father of Salmon, ²¹and Salmon became the father of Boaz, and Boaz became the father of Obed, ²²and Obed became the father of Jesse, and Jesse became the father of David.