1 Boaz was a relative of Naomi. He was a wealthy man from the family of Elimelech.

2 Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi: »Now let me go into the fields and pick up the heads of grain after anyone in whose eyes I find favor.« She said to her: »Go, my daughter.«

3 So she went and picked up the heads of grain in the field after the cutters. By chance she went into that part of the field owned by Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.

4 Boaz came from Bethlehem. He said to the grain-cutters, »Jehovah is with you.« They answered: »Jehovah gives you his blessing.«

5 Boaz asked his servant who was in authority over the cutters: »Whose young woman is this?«

6 The servant said: »It is a Moabite girl who came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab.«

7 She said to me: »Let me come into the grain-field and pick up the grain after the cutters.« So she came, and has been here from morning till now, without resting even for a minute.

8 Then Boaz said to Ruth: »Listen to me, my daughter; do not go to pick up the grain in another field. Do not leave here, but stay with my servant girls.

9 »Keep your eyes on the field the men are harvesting and follow with the girls. I told the men not to touch you. When you are thirsty, drink from the water jars the men keep filled.«

10 Then she bowed down on her face to the earth, and said to him: »Why have I found favor in your eyes? For you give me attention and I am a foreigner.«

11 Boaz answered: »I have heard about everything you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband. You went away from your father and mother and the land of your birth, and came to a people who are strange to you.

12 »May Jehovah reward you for what you have done. May you have a full reward from Jehovah the God of Israel, to whom you have come for protection!«

13 Ruth answered: »You are very kind to me, sir. You make me feel better by speaking gently to me, even though I do not even have the standing of one of your servants.«

14 At mealtime Boaz said to her: »Come here, that you may eat of the bread and dip your piece of bread in the vinegar.« So she sat beside the reapers. He served her roasted grain. She ate and was satisfied and had some left over.

15 She rose to glean. Boaz commanded his servants, saying: »Let her glean among the sheaves, and do not bother her.

16 »Pull some heads of grain out of what has been corded up and drop them for her to take. Say no sharp word to her.«

17 She gathered the heads of grain till evening. After crushing out the seed, it came to about an ephah of grain.

18 She carried it back to town to show her mother-in-law what she gathered. She kept enough for herself and gave Naomi the rest.

19 Her mother-in-law said to her: »Where did you gather grain today? Where did you work? Blessed is the man who gave you this attention.« So she gave her mother-in-law an account of where she had been working, and said: »The name of the man with whom I was working today is Boaz.«

20 Naomi said to her daughter-in-law: »May Jehovah bless him. The man is kind to the living and to the dead.« Then Naomi admitted to her: »The man is of our family, one of our near relatives.«

21 Ruth the Moabitess said: »Truly, he said to me: ‘Keep near my young men till all my grain is cut.’«

22 And Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law: »It is better, my daughter, for you to go out with his servant girls, so that no danger may come to you in another field.«

23 So she kept near the servant girls of Boaz to gather the grain till the cutting of the early grain and the cutting of the late grain was ended. She continued living with her mother-in-law.