Ruth 2

NEW JERUSALEM	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 Naomi had a kinsman on her husband's side, wel -to-do and of Elimelech's clan. His name was Boaz.	1 Naomi had a prominent kinsman named Boaz, of the clan of her husband Elimelech.
2 Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, 'Let me go into the fields and glean ears of corn in the footsteps ofsome man who will look on me with favour.' She replied, 'Go, daughter.'	2 Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, "Let me go and glean ears of grain in the field of anyone who will allow me that favor." Naomi said to her, "Go, my daughter,"
3 So she set out and went to glean in the fields behind the reapers. Chance led her to a plot of landbelonging to Boaz of Elimelech's clan.	3 and she went. The field she entered to glean after the harvesters happened to be the section belonging to Boaz of the clan of Elimelech.
4 Boaz, as it happened, had just come from Bethlehem. 'Yahweh be with you!' he said to the reapers.'Yahweh bless you!' they replied.	4 Boaz himself came from Bethlehem and said to the harvesters, "The LORD be with you!" and they replied, "The LORD bless you!"
5 Boaz said to a servant of his who was in charge of the reapers, 'To whom does this young womanbelong?'	5 Boaz asked the overseer of his harvesters, "Whose girl is this?"
6 And the servant in charge of the reapers replied, 'The girl is the Moabitess, the one who came back withNaomi from the Plains of Moab.	6 The overseer of the harvesters answered, "She is the Moabite girl who returned from the plateau of Moab with Naomi.
7 She said, "Please let me glean and pick up what fal s from the sheaves behind the reapers." Thus shecame, and here she stayed, with hardly a rest from morning until now.'	7 She asked leave to gather the gleanings into sheaves after the harvesters; and ever since she came this morning she has remained here until now, with scarcely a moment's rest."
8 Boaz said to Ruth, 'Listen to me, daughter. You must not go gleaning in any other field. You must not goaway from here. Stay close to my work-women.	8 Boaz said to Ruth, "Listen, my daughter! Do not go to glean in anyone else's field; you are not to leave here. Stay here with my women servants.
9 Keep your eyes on whatever part of the field they are reaping and fol ow behind. I have forbidden mymen to molest you. And if you are thirsty, go to the pitchers and drink what the servants have drawn.'	9 Watch to see which field is to be harvested, and follow them; I have commanded the young men to do you no harm. When you are thirsty, you may go and drink from the vessels the young men have filled."
10 Ruth fel on her face, prostrated herself and said, 'How have I attracted your favour, for you to noticeme, who am only a foreigner?'	10 Casting herself prostrate upon the ground, she said to him, "Why should I, a foreigner, be favored with your notice?"
11 Boaz replied, 'I have been told al about the way you have behaved to your mother-in-law since yourhusband's death, and how you left your own father and mother and the land where you were born to come to apeople of whom you previously knew nothing.	11 Boaz answered her: "I have had a complete account of what you have done for your mother-in-law after your husband's death; you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and have come to a people whom you did not know previously.
12 May Yahweh repay you for what you have done, and may you be richly rewarded by Yahweh, the Godof Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge!'	12 May the LORD reward what you have done! May you receive a full reward from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge."
13 She said, 'My lord, I hope you wil always look on me with favour! You have comforted and encouragedme, though I am not even the equal of one of your work-women.'	13 She said, "May I prove worthy of your kindness, my lord: you have comforted me, your servant, with your consoling words; would indeed that I were a servant of yours!"
14 When it was time to eat, Boaz said to her, 'Come and eat some of this bread and dip your piece in thevinegar.' Ruth sat down beside the reapers and Boaz made a heap of roasted grain for her; she ate til herhunger was satisfied, and she had some left over.	14 At mealtime Boaz said to her, "Come here and have some food; dip your bread in the sauce." Then as she sat near the reapers, he handed her some roasted grain and she ate her fill and had some left over.
15 When she had got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his work-people, 'Let her glean among thesheaves themselves. Do not molest her.	15 She rose to glean, and Boaz instructed his servants to let her glean among the sheaves themselves without scolding her,
16 And be sure you pull a few ears of corn out of the bundles and drop them. Let her glean them, and donot scold her.'	16 and even to let drop some handfuls and leave them for her to glean without being rebuked.
17 So she gleaned in the field till evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned and it came to abouta bushel of barley.	17 She gleaned in the field until evening, and when she beat out what she had gleaned it came to about an ephah of barley,
18 Taking it with her, she went back to the town. Her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. Ruth alsotook out what she had kept after eating al she wanted, and gave that to her.	18 which she took into the city and showed to her mother-in-law. Next she brought out and gave her what she had left over from lunch.
19 Her mother-in-law said, 'Where have you been gleaning today? Where have you been working?Blessed be the man who took notice of you!' Ruth told her mother-in-law in whose field she had been working.'The name of the man with whom I have been working today', she said, 'is Boaz.'	19 So her mother-in-law said to her, "Where did you glean today? Where did you go to work? May he who took notice of you be blessed!" Then she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked. "The man at whose place I worked today is named Boaz," she said.
20 Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, 'May he be blessed by Yahweh who does not withhold his faithfullove from living or dead! This man', Naomi added, 'is a close relation of ours. He is one of those who have theright of redemption over us.'	20 "May he be blessed by the LORD, who is ever merciful to the living and to the dead," Naomi exclaimed to her daughter-in-law; and she continued, "He is a relative of ours, one of our next of kin."
21 Ruth the Moabitess said to her mother-in-law, 'He also said, "Stay with my work-people until they havefinished my whole harvest." '	21 "He even told me," added Ruth the Moabite, "that I should stay with his servants until they complete his entire harvest."
22 Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, 'It is better for you, daughter, to go with his work-women thanto go to some other field where you might be il -treated.'	22 "You would do well, my dear," Naomi rejoined, "to go out with his servants; for in someone else's field you might be insulted."
23 So she stayed with Boaz's work-women, and gleaned until the barley and wheat harvests werefinished. And she went on living with her mother-in-law.	23 So she stayed gleaning with the servants of Boaz until the end of the barley and wheat harvests.