And it happened in the days [when] {the judges ruled}, there was a famine in the land, and a man from Bethlehem [of] Judah went {to reside} in the countryside of Moab--he and his wife and his two sons.

And the name of the man [was] Elimelech, and the name of his wife [was] Naomi, and the name of his two sons [were] Mahlon and Kilion. [They were] Ephraimites from Bethlehem [in] Judah. And they went [to] the countryside of Moab and remained there.

And she got up, she and her daughters-in-law, and returned from the countryside of Moab, because she had heard in the countryside of Moab that Yahweh had {come to the aid of} his people to give food to them.

So she set out from the place {where she was} and her two daughters-in-law with her, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah.

would you therefore wait until they were grown? Would you therefore {refrain from marrying}? No, my daughters, for it is far more bitter to me than [to] you. For the hand of Yahweh has gone out against me."

But Ruth said, "{Do not urge} me to leave you [or] to return from {following you}! For where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people [will be] my people and your God [will be] my God.

So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabite her daughter-in-law with her, returning from the countryside of Moab. And they came [to] Bethlehem at [the] beginning of [the] harvest of barley.

{Now} Naomi {had a relative of her husband}, {a prominent rich man} from the clan of Elimelech, [whose] name was Boaz.

So she went and came and gleaned in the field behind the reapers. And she happened [by] chance [upon] the tract of field {belonging to} Boaz, who [was] from the clan of Elimelech.

And look, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said to the reapers, "[May] Yahweh [be] with you." And they said to him, "[May] Yahweh bless you."

And {the servant in charge of the reapers} said, "She [is] a Moabite girl returning with Naomi from the countryside of Moab.

And she said, 'Please let me glean and let me gather among the sheaves behind the reapers.' So she came and remained from the morning up to now. {She is sitting for a little while in the house}."

And Boaz said to Ruth, "{Listen carefully}, my daughter, go no longer to glean in another field. Moreover, do not leave from this one, but {stay close} with my young women.

Keep your eyes on the field that they reap and go after them. Have I not ordered the servants not to bother you? And if you get thirsty, you shall go to the containers and drink from where the servants have drawn."

May Yahweh reward your work and may a full reward be [given to] you from Yahweh, the God of Israel, under whose wings you came to take refuge."

And Boaz said to her {at mealtime}, "Come here and eat from the bread and dip your morsel in the wine vinegar." So she sat beside the gleaners, and he offered to her roasted grain. And she ate and was satisfied, and she had some left over.

And also pull out for her from your bundles and leave [it] so that she may glean--and do not rebuke her."

And he took ten men from the elders of the city and said, "Sit here." And they sat.

And he said to the redeemer, "Naomi, who returned from the countryside [of] Moab, is selling the tract of land which [was] for our brother Elimelech.

And Boaz said, "On the day of your acquiring the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the wife of the dead [man], [in order] to raise up [for] the name of the dead his inheritance."

And Boaz said to the elders and all of the people, "You [are] witnesses today that I have acquired all that [was] for Elimelech and that [was] for Kilion and Mahlon from the hand of Naomi.

And also Ruth the Moabite, the wife of Mahlon, I have acquired as a wife, to raise up the name of the dead over his inheritance, so that the name of the dead may not be cut off from his relatives and from the gate of his [birth] place. You [are] witnesses today."

And may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah from the offspring that Yahweh will give to you from this young woman."