1 ¶ Now there was a close relative of Naomi’s husband, 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 go to the field, and glean ears of grain behind someone who allows me to. And she said to her, Go, my daughter.

3 So she went, and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was a kinsman of Elimelech.

4 ¶ And Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said to the reapers, The LORD be with you. And they answered him, The LORD bless you.

5 Then Boaz said to his servant who was in charge of the reapers, Whose maiden is this?

6 And the servant who was in charge of the reapers answered, It is the Moabitish girl who came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab:

7 And she said, I pray you, let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves: so she came, and has continued from early morning until now, except when she rested a short time in the house.

8 Then Boaz said to Ruth, Listen, my daughter? Do not go to glean in another field, or leave this one, but remain here close to my maidens:

9 Watch which field they reap, and follow them: have I not ordered the young men not to touch you? and when you are thirsty, go to the vessels, and drink of what 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 your eyes, that you should take notice of me, seeing that I am a foreigner?

11 And Boaz said to her, I have been made fully aware, of all that you have done for your mother in law since the death of your husband: and how you have left your father and your mother, and the land of your birth, and have come to a people that you did not know before.

12 The LORD recompense you for what you have done, and a full reward be given to you by the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.

13 Then she said, Let me find favor in your sight, my lord; for you have comforted me, and have spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not one of your handmaidens.

14 And Boaz said to her, At mealtime come here, and eat some of the bread, and dip your morsel in the vinegar. So she sat beside the reapers: and he offered her roasted grain, and she ate, and was satisfied, and left.

15 And when she got up to glean, Boaz instructed his young men, saying, Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her:

16 And also let some of the handfuls fall on purpose for her, and leave them, that she may glean them, and do not rebuke her.

17 ¶ So she gleaned in the field until evening, and beat out what she had gleaned: and it was about an ephah of barley.

18 And she took it up, and went into the town: where her mother in law saw what she had gleaned: and she brought out what she had left of the food after eating, and gave that to her.

19 And her mother in law said to her, Where have you gleaned today? where did you work? blessed be the man who took notice of you. So Ruth told her mother in law with whom she had worked, and said, The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz.

20 And Naomi said to her daughter in law, May he be blessed by the LORD, who has not withdrawn his kindness to the living and to the dead. And Naomi said to her, The man is a near relative of ours, one of our nearest relatives.

21 And Ruth the Moabitess said, He also said to me, Stay close to my young men, until they have finished harvesting my entire crop.

22 And Naomi said to Ruth her daughter in law, It is good, my daughter, for you to go out with his maidens, lest in another field you be treated badly.

23 So she kept close to the maidens of Boaz gleaning until the end of the barley harvest and the wheat harvest; and lived with her mother in law.