| NET Bible | New International Version |
| 1Now Naomi had a relative on her husband's side of the family named Boaz. He was a wealthy, prominent man from the clan of Elimelech. | 1Now Naomi had a relative on her husband's side, a man of standing from the clan of Elimelek, whose name was Boaz. |
| 2One day Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, "Let me go to the fields so I can gather grain behind whoever permits me to do so." Naomi replied, "You may go, my daughter." | 2And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, "Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor." Naomi said to her, "Go ahead, my daughter." |
| 3So Ruth went and gathered grain in the fields behind the harvesters. Now she just happened to end up in the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelech. | 3So she went out, entered a field and began to glean behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek. |
| 4Now at that very moment, Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, "May the LORD be with you!" They replied, "May the LORD bless you!" | 4Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, "The LORD be with you!" "The LORD bless you!" they answered. |
| 5Boaz asked his servant in charge of the harvesters, "To whom does this young woman belong?" | 5Boaz asked the overseer of his harvesters, "Who does that young woman belong to?" |
| 6The servant in charge of the harvesters replied, "She's the young Moabite woman who came back with Naomi from the region of Moab. | 6The overseer replied, "She is the Moabite who came back from Moab with Naomi. |
| 7She asked, 'May I follow the harvesters and gather grain among the bundles?' Since she arrived she has been working hard from this morning until now--except for sitting in the resting hut a short time." | 7She said, 'Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.' She came into the field and has remained here from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter." |
| 8So Boaz said to Ruth, "Listen carefully, my dear! Do not leave to gather grain in another field. You need not go beyond the limits of this field. You may go along beside my female workers. | 8So Boaz said to Ruth, "My daughter, listen to me. Don't go and glean in another field and don't go away from here. Stay here with the women who work for me. |
| 9Take note of the field where the men are harvesting and follow behind with the female workers. I will tell the men to leave you alone. When you are thirsty, you may go to the water jars and drink some of the water the servants draw." | 9Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the women. I have told the men not to lay a hand on you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled." |
| 10Ruth knelt before him with her forehead to the ground and said to him, "Why are you so kind and so attentive to me, even though I am a foreigner?" | 10At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She asked him, "Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me--a foreigner?" |
| 11Boaz replied to her, "I have been given a full report of all that you have done for your mother-in-law following the death of your husband--how you left your father and your mother, as well as your homeland, and came to live among people you did not know previously. | 11Boaz replied, "I've been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband--how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. |
| 12May the LORD reward your efforts! May your acts of kindness be repaid fully by the LORD God of Israel, from whom you have sought protection!" | 12May the LORD repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge." |
| 13She said, "You really are being kind to me, sir, for you have reassured and encouraged me, your servant, even though I am not one of your servants!" | 13"May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord," she said. "You have put me at ease by speaking kindly to your servant--though I do not have the standing of one of your servants." |
| 14Later during the mealtime Boaz said to her, "Come here and have some food! Dip your bread in the vinegar!" So she sat down beside the harvesters. Then he handed her some roasted grain. She ate until she was full and saved the rest. | 14At mealtime Boaz said to her, "Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar." When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over. |
| 15When she got up to gather grain, Boaz told his male servants, "Let her gather grain even among the bundles! Don't chase her off! | 15As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, "Let her gather among the sheaves and don't reprimand her. |
| 16Make sure you pull out ears of grain for her and drop them so she can gather them up. Don't tell her not to!" | 16Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don't rebuke her." |
| 17So she gathered grain in the field until evening. When she threshed what she had gathered, it came to about thirty pounds of barley! | 17So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah. |
| 18She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much grain she had gathered. Then Ruth gave her the roasted grain she had saved from mealtime. | 18She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over after she had eaten enough. |
| 19Her mother-in-law asked her, "Where did you gather grain today? Where did you work? May the one who took notice of you be rewarded!" So Ruth told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked. She said, "The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz." | 19Her mother-in-law asked her, "Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!" Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. "The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz," she said. |
| 20Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, "May he be rewarded by the LORD because he has shown loyalty to the living on behalf of the dead!" Then Naomi said to her, "This man is a close relative of ours; he is our guardian." | 20"The LORD bless him!" Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. "He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead." She added, "That man is our close relative; he is one of our guardian-redeemers." |
| 21Ruth the Moabite replied, "He even told me, 'You may go along beside my servants until they have finished gathering all my harvest!'" | 21Then Ruth the Moabite said, "He even said to me, 'Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain.'" |
| 22Naomi then said to her daughter-in-law Ruth, "It is good, my daughter, that you should go out to work with his female servants. That way you will not be harmed, which could happen in another field." | 22Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, "It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with the women who work for him, because in someone else's field you might be harmed." |
| 23So Ruth worked beside Boaz's female servants, gathering grain until the end of the barley harvest as well as the wheat harvest. After that she stayed home with her mother-in-law. | 23So Ruth stayed close to the women of Boaz to glean until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law. |
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