1 Havia em Belém um homem rico e respeitado chamado Boaz. Ele era parente de Elimeleque, o marido de Noemi.
2 Certo dia, Rute, a moabita, disse a Noemi: "Deixe-me ir ao campo ver se alguém, em sua bondade, me permite recolher as espigas de cereal que sobrarem".
Noemi respondeu: "Está bem, minha filha, pode ir". 3 Rute saiu para colher espigas após os ceifeiros. Aconteceu de ela ir trabalhar num campo que pertencia a Boaz, parente de seu sogro, Elimeleque.
4 Enquanto Rute estava ali, Boaz chegou de Belém e saudou os ceifeiros: "O Senhor esteja com vocês!".
"O Senhor o abençoe!", responderam os ceifeiros.
5 Então Boaz perguntou a seu capataz: "Quem é aquela moça? A quem ela pertence?".
6 O capataz respondeu: "É a moça que veio de Moabe com Noemi. 7 Hoje de manhã ela me pediu permissão para colher espigas após os ceifeiros. Desde que chegou, não parou de trabalhar um instante sequer, a não ser por alguns minutos de descanso no abrigo".
8 Boaz foi até Rute e disse: "Ouça, minha filha. Quando for colher espigas, fique conosco; não vá a nenhum outro campo. Acompanhe as moças que trabalham para mim. 9 Observe em que parte do campo estão colhendo e vá atrás delas. Avisei os homens para não a tratarem mal. E, quando tiver sede, sirva-se da água que os servos tiram do poço".
10 Rute se curvou diante dele, com o rosto no chão, e disse: "O que fiz para merecer tanta bondade? Sou apenas uma estrangeira!".
11 "Eu sei", respondeu Boaz. "Mas também sei de tudo que você fez por sua sogra desde a morte de seu marido. Ouvi falar de como você deixou seu pai, sua mãe e sua própria terra para viver aqui no meio de desconhecidos. 12 Que o Senhor, o Deus de Israel, sob cujas asas você veio se refugiar, a recompense ricamente pelo que você fez."
13 Ela respondeu: "Espero que eu continue a receber sua bondade, meu senhor, pois me animou com suas palavras gentis, embora eu nem seja uma de suas servas".
14 Na hora da refeição, Boaz lhe disse: "Venha cá e sirva-se de comida; também pode molhar o pão no vinagre". Rute sentou-se junto aos ceifeiros, e Boaz lhe deu grãos tostados. Ela comeu até ficar satisfeita, e ainda sobrou alimento.
15 Quando Rute voltou ao trabalho, Boaz ordenou a seus servos: "Permitam que ela colha espigas entre os feixes e não a incomodem. 16 Tirem dos feixes algumas espigas de cevada e deixem-nas cair para que ela as recolha. Não a atrapalhem!".
17 Assim, Rute colheu cevada o dia todo e, à tarde, quando debulhou o cereal, encheu quase um cesto inteiro. 18 Carregou tudo para a cidade e mostrou à sua sogra. Também lhe deu o que havia sobrado da refeição.
19 "Onde você colheu todo esse cereal?", perguntou Noemi. "Onde você trabalhou hoje? Que seja abençoado quem a ajudou!"
Então Rute contou à sogra com quem havia trabalhado: "O homem com quem trabalhei hoje se chama Boaz".
20 "O Senhor o abençoe!", disse Noemi à nora. "O Senhor não deixou de lado sua bondade tanto pelos vivos como pelos mortos. Esse homem é um de nossos parentes mais próximos, o resgatador de nossa família."
21 Rute, a moabita, acrescentou: "Boaz disse que devo voltar e trabalhar com seus ceifeiros até que terminem toda a colheita".
22 "Muito bom!", exclamou Noemi. "Faça o que ele disse, minha filha. Fique com as servas dele até o final da colheita. Em outros campos, poderiam maltratá-la."
23 Assim, Rute trabalhou com as servas nos campos de Boaz e recolheu espigas com elas até o final das colheitas da cevada e do trigo. Nesse tempo, ficou morando com sua sogra.
1 And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz.
2 And Ruth 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. And she said to her, Go, my daughter.
3 And she went, and came and gleaned in the field after the reapers. And her chance was to land on the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.
4 And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said to the reapers, LORD be with you. And they answered him, LORD bless thee.
5 Then Boaz said to his servant who was set over the reapers, Whose damsel is this?
6 And the servant who was set over the reapers answered and said, It is the Moabite damsel who came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab.
7 And she said, Let me glean, I pray you, and gather behind the reapers among the sheaves. So she came, and has continued even from the morning until now, except that she tarried a little in the house.
8 Then Boaz said to Ruth, Do thou not hear, my daughter? Go not to glean in another field, neither pass from here, but abide here close by my maidens.
9 Let thine eyes be on the field that they reap, and go thou after them. Have I not charged the young men that they shall not touch thee? And when thou are thirsty, go to the vessels, and drink of that which the young men have drawn.
10 Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said to him, Why have I found favor in thy sight that thou should take knowledge of me, seeing I am a foreigner?
11 And Boaz answered and said to her, It has been fully shown me all that thou have done to thy mother-in-law since the death of thy husband, and how thou have left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and have com
12 LORD recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings thou have come to take refuge.
13 Then she said, Let me find favor in thy sight, my lord, because thou have comforted me, and because thou have spoken kindly to thy handmaid, though I be not as one of thy handmaidens.
14 And at mealtime Boaz said to her, Come here, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And she sat beside the reapers, and they passed her parched grain, and she ate, and was satisfied, and left of it.
15 And when she arose up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her.
16 And also pull out some for her from the bundles, and leave it, and let her glean, and do not rebuke her.
17 So she gleaned in the field until evening. And she beat out that which she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley.
18 And she 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 satisfied.
19 And her mother-in-law said to her, Where have thou gleaned today? And where have thou worked? Blessed be he who took knowledge of thee. And she showed her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, and said, The man's name with whom I
20 And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, Blessed be he of LORD who has not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead. And Naomi said to her, The man is near of kin to us, one of our near kinsmen.
21 And Ruth the Moabitess said, Yes, he said to me, Thou shall keep close by my young men until they have ended all my harvest.
22 And Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, It is good, my daughter, that thou go out with his maidens, and that they not meet thee in any other field.
23 So she kept close by the maidens of Boaz, to glean to the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest. And she dwelt with her mother-in-law.