2:1Now there was a kinsman of the man Elimelech, a powerful man, and of great wealth, by name Boaz. 2:2And Ruth the Moabitess said to her mother-in-law: "If you bid me, I will go into the field, and gather the ears that have escaped the hands of the reapers, wherever I find favour with a householder kind to me." 2:2She answered her: "Go, my daughter." 2:3So she went away and was gathering ears behind the backs of the reapers. 2:3Now it happened that that field had a master by name Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech. 2:4And look, he himself was coming from Bethlehem, and he said to the reapers: "The Lord be with you."
2:4They answered him: "May the Lord bless you." 2:5And Boaz said to the young man who was in charge of the reapers: "Whose is this girl?" 2:6He answered him: "This is the Moabitess who came with Naomi from the region of Moab, and she asked that she might gather the remaining ears, following the footsteps of the reapers: and from morning until now she is standing in the field, and not even for a moment has she gone back home." 2:8And Boaz said to Ruth: "Listen, daughter, do not go into another field to gather, nor go away from this place: but join yourself to my girls, and where they reap, follow.
2:9For I have instructed my young men that no one be troublesome to you: but also, if you are thirsty, go to the packs, and drink the waters from which the young men also drink." 2:10She, falling on her face and bowing down upon the ground, said to him: "Whence is this to me, that I should find favour before your eyes, and that you should deign to know me, a foreign woman?" 2:11He answered her: "All the things have been reported to me which you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband: and that you have left your parents, and the land in which you were born, and have come to a people whom formerly you did not know.
2:12May the Lord repay you for your work, and may you receive a full reward from the Lord God of Israel, to whom you have come, and under whose wings you have fled for refuge." 2:13She said: "I have found favour in your eyes, my lord, who have comforted me, and have spoken to the heart of your handmaid, who am not like one of your girls." 2:14And Boaz said to her: "When the hour of eating comes, come here, and eat bread, and dip your morsel in the vinegar." 2:14So she sat at the side of the reapers, and heaped up parched grain for herself, and ate and was satisfied, and took away the remains.
2:15And from there she rose, to gather ears as was her custom. 2:15But Boaz instructed his young men, saying: "Even if she wishes to reap with you, do not prevent her: and from your sheaves too throw some down on purpose, and allow them to remain, so that she may gather without shame, and no one may rebuke her as she gathers." 2:17So she gathered in the field until evening: and, beating with a rod and shaking out what she had gathered, she found about the measure of an ephah of barley, that is, three measures. 2:18Carrying them she returned into the city, and showed them to her mother-in-law: moreover she brought out, and gave her some of the remains of her food, with which she had been satisfied.
2:19And her mother-in-law said to her: "Where have you gathered today, and where have you worked? 2:19Blessed be he who has had pity on you." 2:19And she told her with whom she had worked: and she said the name of the man, that he was called Boaz. 2:20Naomi answered her: "May he be blessed by the Lord: since the same kindness which he had shown to the living, he has kept for the dead too." 2:20And again she said: "The man is our kinsman." 2:21And Ruth said: "This too," she said, "he instructed me, that I should keep close to his reapers until all the harvest was reaped." 2:22Her mother-in-law said to her: "It is better, my daughter, that you go out with his girls to reap, lest in another's field someone oppose you."
2:23So she joined herself to the girls of Boaz: and she reaped with them for as long as it took until the barley and wheat were stored in the granaries.