DASV:  Ruth
                                                      Ruth 1

¹ In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah went to live temporarily in the country of Moab, he, his wife and his two sons.

² The name of the man was Elimelek, and the name of his wife, Naomi, and his two sons named Mahlon and Kilion.  They were Ephrathites of Bethlehem in Judah.  They entered the country of Moab and stayed there.

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

⁴ They married Moabite women.  The name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth.  They lived there about ten years.

⁵ Then Mahlon and Kilion both died.  So the woman was left without her two children and her husband.

⁶ She heard in Moab how the LORD had come to the aid of his people providing them with food, so she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home.

⁷ So she set out from the place she had been living, along with her two daughters-in-law, and they went on their way to return to the land of Judah.

⁸ Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Go back, return each of you to your mother's home.  May the LORD treat you with the same faithful kindness you have shown to your dead husbands and to me.

⁹ May the LORD enable you to find rest each of you in the house of a new husband." Then she kissed them, and they lifted their voice and wept.

¹⁰ They said to her, "No, we will return with you to your people."

¹¹ Naomi replied, "Turn back, my daughters:  Why will ye go with me? Do I yet have sons in my womb, that they may become your husbands?

¹² Go home, my daughters.  Why would you go with me?  Even if I thought there was still hope for me, and I had a husband tonight and gave birth to sons,

¹³ would you wait until they were grown up? Would you stay unmarried? No, my daughters, it has been more bitter for me than for you, because the hand of the LORD has turned against me."

¹⁴ They lifted up their voice and wept again.  Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye, but Ruth clung to her.

¹⁵ She said, "Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her god.  Go, follow your sister-in-law back home."

¹⁶ Then Ruth said, "Do not urge me to leave you, to return from following you, for where you go, I will go, and where you live, I will live, your people will be my people, and your God my God.

¹⁷ Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried.  The LORD punish me severely, if anything but death separates you and me."

¹⁸ When she saw that she was persistent to go with her, she stopped trying to discourage her.

¹⁹ So they both went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they came to Bethlehem, all the town was excited by their arrival, and the women asked, "Is this Naomi?"

²⁰ She rebuffed them, "Do not call me 'Naomi' (pleasantness), call me 'Mara' (bitter); for the Almighty has dealt bitterly with me.

²¹ I went out full, and the LORD has brought me back home empty.  Why do you call me 'Naomi,' seeing the LORD has afflicted me, and the Almighty has brought disaster on me?"

²² So Naomi returned, along with Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, who returned from the country of Moab.  Now they had arrived at Bethlehem during the beginning of barley harvest.

                                                         Ruth 2

¹ Now Naomi had a relative on her husband's side, a prominent man of wealth, from the clan of Elimelek, whose name was Boaz.

² Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, "Let me go to the field and pick up some leftover grain after anyone who is kind enough to permit me to do it." She replied, "Go, my daughter."

³ So she went and gleaned grain in the field after the reapers.  She happened to come on part of the field that belonged to Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimelek.

⁴ Now Boaz had just come from Bethlehem and said to the reapers, "The LORD be with you." They replied, "The LORD bless you."

⁵ Then Boaz asked his servant who was overseeing the reapers, "To whom does that young woman belong?"

⁶ The servant overseeing the reapers replied, "She is the Moabite woman who came back with Naomi from the land of Moab.

⁷ She asked, 'May I glean grain, and gather after the reapers among the bundles of grain.' So she came and has worked continuously from the morning until now, except for a brief rest in the shelter."

⁸ Then said Boaz to Ruth, "Listen, my daughter, do not go to glean grain in another field, or leave this one, but stay close to my servant girls.

⁹ Keep your eyes on the field they are reaping, and follow them.  I have told the young men not to touch you? When you are thirsty, go to the water jugs, and drink from what the young men have drawn."

¹⁰ Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground, and thanked him, "Why have I found favor in your sight, that you should take notice of me, seeing I am a foreigner?"

¹¹ Boaz answered her, "I have been told about everything that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you left your father and mother, and the land of your birth, and have come to a people that you did not know about before now.

¹² The LORD reward your efforts.  May you be repaid in full from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have taken refuge."

¹³ Then she said, "Let me continue to find favor in your sight, my lord, for you have encouraged me by speaking kindly to your servant, even though I am not one of your servants."

¹⁴ At lunch time Boaz said to her, "Come here and have some bread.  Dip your piece in the vinegar."  So she sat beside the reapers, and Boaz passed her roasted grain, and she ate until she was satisfied and even had some left over.

¹⁵ When she got up to glean grain, Boaz told his young men, "Let her glean grain even among the standing bundles, and do not scold her.

¹⁶ Also pull out some stalks from the bundles for her, and leave it for her glean, and do not reprimand her.

¹⁷ So she gleaned grain in the field until evening.  When she beat out the grain she had gleaned, it was about third pounds of barley.

¹⁸ So she picked it up and returned to the town and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gleaned.  Then Ruth gave her some of her lunch that was left over after she was satisfied.

¹⁹ Her mother-in-law asked her, "Where did you glean grain today? Where did you find work? Blessed be the one who took notice of you." Then she told her mother-in-law about the one with whom she had worked, "The man's name I worked with today was Boaz."

²⁰ Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, "May he be blessed by the LORD, who has not stopped showing his faithful kindness to the living or to the dead." Then Naomi announced, "The man is our relative, one of our family redeemers."

²¹ Ruth the Moabitess said, "Yes, he even told me, 'Stay close to my servants until they have ended all my harvest.'"

²² Then Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, "It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his female servants, because you might be harmed in someone else's field."

²³ So she kept close by the female servants of Boaz, gleaning grain to the end of barley harvest and then the wheat harvest; and she lived with her mother-in-law.

                                                            Ruth 3

¹ Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, "My daughter, should I not seek a permanent home for you, so that you may be well taken care of?"

² Is not Boaz with whose servant girls you worked, our close relative? Look, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing-floor.

³ Wash up, put on some perfume and your best clothes, then head down to the threshing-floor, but don't let him see you until he has finished eating and drinking.

⁴ When he lies down, carefully note the place where he lies down.  Then go, and uncover his feet, and lay down there and he will tell you what to do."

⁵ Ruth responded to her, "I will do everything you have told me to do."

⁶ So she went down to the threshing-floor, and did everything that her mother-in-law had directed her to do.

⁷ When Boaz had finished eating and drinking, and his heart was in good spirits, he went to lie down at the end of the pile of grain.  Then she snuck up quietly, and uncovered his feet and lay down.

⁸ In the middle of the night, the man was shocked as he turned over.  There laying at his feet was a woman.

⁹ He asked, "Who are you?" She answered, "I am Ruth your servant, spread the corner of your garment over me, for you are our family's redeemer."

¹⁰ He said, "May you be blessed of the LORD, my daughter.  For this latter instance of your loyalty is greater than what you did before, because you have not pursued one of the younger men, whether rich or poor.

¹¹ Now, my daughter, do not be afraid, for I will do all that you ask, for everyone in town knows that you are a virtuous woman.

¹² It is true that I am a family redeemer, however there is a family redeemer who is more closely related to you than I am.

¹³ Wait here tonight, and in the morning, if he will marry you as the family redeemer, good for you; then let him fulfill his role as the family redeemer.  If, however, he is not willing to fulfill his role as the family redeemer, then will I do it marrying you, I promise as the LORD lives.  Now lie down until morning."

¹⁴ So she lay at his feet until morning. Then she got up before anyone could be recognized. For he said, "Do not let anyone know that a woman came to the threshing-floor."

¹⁵ Then he said, "Bring the cloak you are wearing here and hold it out."  So she held it out and he measured six measures of barley, and put it on her.  Then he went into the town.

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

¹⁷ Ruth said, "He gave me these six measures of barley; for he said, 'Do not go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.'"

¹⁸ Then Naomi said, "Sit down here, my daughter, until you learn how the matter ends up, for the man will not rest, until he has settled the matter today."

                                                       Ruth 4

¹ Now Boaz went up to the town gate, and sat down there.  The family redeemer of whom Boaz spoke came by.  He said to him, "Come over, friend; sit down here." So he came over and sat down.

² Then he took ten of the town elders, and said, "Sit down here." So they sat down.

³ Then he said to the family redeemer, "Naomi, who has come back from the land of Moab, is selling a parcel of land, that was our brother Elimelek's.

⁴ I thought to report this to you, saying, "Buy it in the presence of those sitting here, and before the elders of my people. If you want redeem it, then redeem it.  But if you don't want to redeem it, then tell me, so that I may know; for no one has a right to redeem before you do and I am next in line after you." He affirmed, "I will redeem it."

⁵ Then Boaz added, "When you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also will acquire Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of our dead relative, in order to raise up a descendant for the name of the dead who will inherit his property."

⁶ But the family redeemer said, "I cannot redeem it for myself, without damaging my own inheritance.  Take my right of redemption for yourself because I cannot redeem it."

⁷ Now this was the custom in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and finalizing a property exchange, a man took off his sandal and gave it to the other party.  This was the way a legally binding transaction was confirmed in Israel.

⁸ So the family redeemer said to Boaz, "Buy it for yourself." Then he took off his sandal.

⁹ Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, "You are witnesses today, that I have acquired all that was Elimelek's, and all that was Kilion's and Mahlon's, from the hand of Naomi.

¹⁰ I have also acquired Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, to be my wife, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead with his inheritance, that the name of the dead will not be cut off from among his relatives, and from the gate of his hometown.  You are witnesses this day."

¹¹ All the people who were in the gate, and the elders, said, "We are witnesses. The LORD make this woman who is coming into your house like Rachel and Leah, who together built the house of Israel.  May you prosper in Ephrathah and become famous in Bethlehem.

¹² Let your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, from the descendants which the LORD will give you from this young woman."

¹³ So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. He went in to her, and the LORD allowed her to conceive and give birth to a son.

¹⁴ The women said to Naomi, "Praise the LORD, who has not left you this day without a family redeemer.  May his name be famous in Israel.

¹⁵ May he restore your life and provide for you in your old age, for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, is better to you than seven sons, has borne him."

¹⁶ Then Naomi took the baby and laid him on her lap, and cared for him.

¹⁷ The neighbor women named him, saying, "A son has been born to Naomi."  So they named him Obed.  He became the father of Jesse, the father of David.

¹⁸ Now these are the descendants of Perez: Perez was the father of Hezron.

¹⁹ Hezron was the father of Ram.  Ram was the father of Amminadab.

²⁰ Amminadab was the father of Nahshon.  Nahshon was the father of Salmon.

²¹ Salmon was the father of Boaz. Boaz was the father of Obed.

²² Obed was the father of Jesse. Jesse was the father of David.