Ruth 2
All 23 verses in the Clear Bible Translation. Tap a verse to compare the KJV and read what it means.
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- 1Now Naomi had a relative on her husband's side, a mighty man of wealth from Elimelech's family. His name was Boaz.
- 2Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, "Let me go out to the fields and pick up leftover grain behind anyone who will let me." Naomi told her, "Go ahead, my daughter."
- 3So Ruth went out and began gathering grain in a field behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she ended up in the section of land that belonged to Boaz, the relative of Elimelech.
- 4Just then, Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted his harvesters: "The LORD be with you!" They called back, "The LORD bless you!"
- 5Boaz asked the foreman in charge of the harvesters, "Who is that young woman?"
- 6The foreman answered, "She's the Moabite woman who came back with Naomi from the land of Moab."
- 7She said, "Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves." So she came and has continued from morning until now, except that she stayed a little while in the house.
- 8Boaz went over to Ruth and said, "Listen to me, my daughter. Don't go gleaning in anyone else's field. Don't leave this place. Stay here with my young women.
- 9Watch the field where they are harvesting and follow behind them. I have instructed the young men not to touch you. When you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn.
- 10Ruth fell on her face, bowing to the ground, and said to him, "Why have I found grace in your eyes, that you should notice me, since I am a stranger?"
- 11Boaz replied, "I've heard all about what you've done for your mother-in-law since your husband died — how you left your own father and mother and the country where you were born, and came to live among people you'd never known before.
- 12May the LORD repay you for what you've done. May you receive a full reward from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge."
- 13"You are so kind to me, my lord," Ruth said. "You've comforted me and spoken so warmly to your servant — even though I'm not even equal to one of your servant girls."
- 14When it was time to eat, Boaz told her, "Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar." She sat down with the harvesters, and Boaz handed her roasted grain. She ate until she was full and still had some left over.
- 15After she got up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, "Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her."
- 16In fact, pull out some stalks from the bundles on purpose and leave them for her to pick up. Don't say a word to her about it."
- 17Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. When she threshed out what she had gathered, it came to about an ephah of barley.
- 18She carried it back into town, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. Then she brought out what she had saved after she had eaten enough and gave it to her.
- 19"Where did you glean today?" Naomi asked. "Where did you work? Whoever took notice of you — may he be blessed!" Ruth told her mother-in-law about the man she had worked near. "His name is Boaz," she said.
- 20Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, "Blessed be he by the LORD, who has not stopped showing kindness to the living and the dead." Naomi also said, "That man is a close relative of ours, one of our nearest kinsmen."
- 21Ruth the Moabitess continued, "He also told me, 'Stay close to my young men until they have finished all my harvest.'"
- 22Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, "It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, so that they do not meet you in any other field."
- 23So Ruth stayed close to Boaz's young women, gleaning through the end of both the barley harvest and the wheat harvest. And she continued living with her mother-in-law.