Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left [a widow] with her two sons.

and then both Mahlon and Chilion also died, so the woman [Naomi] was left without her two sons and her husband.

Then she set out with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in Moab how the Lord had taken care of His people [of Judah] in giving them food.

So she left the place where she was living, her two daughters-in-law with her, and they started on the way back to the land of Judah.

But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you return to your mother’s house. May the Lord show kindness to you as you have shown kindness to the dead and to me.

May the Lord grant that you find rest, each one in the home of her husband.” Then she kissed them [goodbye], and they wept aloud.

And they said to her, “No, we will go with you to your people [in Judah].”

Then they wept aloud again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law [goodbye], but Ruth clung to her.

Then Naomi said, “Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; turn back and follow your sister-in-law.”

When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said nothing more.

So Naomi returned from the country of Moab, and with her Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law. And they arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.

Now Naomi had a relative of her husband, a man of great wealth and influence, from the family of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz.

And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Please let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after one [of the reapers] in whose sight I may find favor.” Naomi said to her, “Go, my daughter.”

Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen carefully, my daughter. Do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but stay here close by my maids.

Then she kneeled face downward, bowing to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your eyes that you should notice me, when I am a foreigner?”

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

At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come over here and eat some bread and dip your bread in the vinegar.” So she sat beside the reapers; and he served her roasted grain, and she ate until she was satisfied and she had some left [for Naomi].

When she got up to glean, Boaz ordered his servants, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not insult her.

Also you shall purposely pull out for her some stalks [of grain] from the sheaves and leave them so that she may collect them, and do not rebuke her.”

She picked it up and went into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. Ruth also took out and gave to Naomi what she had saved after she [had eaten and] was satisfied.

Her mother-in-law said to her, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you.” So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said, “The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz.”

Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed of the Lord who has not ceased His kindness to the living and to the dead.” Again Naomi said to her, “The man is one of our closest relatives, one who has the right to redeem us.”

So she stayed close to the maids of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the barley and wheat harvests. And she lived with her mother-in-law.

Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to Ruth, “My daughter, shall I not look for security and a home for you, so that it may be well with you?

Ruth answered her, “I will do everything that you say.”

So she went down to the threshing floor and did just as her mother-in-law had told her.

He also said, “Give me the shawl you are wearing and hold it out.” So Ruth held it and he measured out six measures of barley [into it] and placed it on her. And she went into the city.

When she came home, her mother-in-law said, “How did it go, my daughter?” And Ruth told her everything that the man had done for her.

Then Boaz went up to the city gate [where business and legal matters were settled] and sat down, and then the close relative (redeemer) of whom Boaz had spoken came by. He said to him, “Come over here, friend, and sit down.” So he came and sat down.

Then Boaz took ten men from the elders of the city and said, “Sit down here.” And they sat down.

So I thought to let you hear of it, saying, ‘Buy it in the presence of those sitting here, and before the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it; but if not, then tell me, so that I may know; for there is no one besides you to redeem it, and I am [next of kin] after you.’” And he said, “I will redeem it.”

So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And he went in to her, and the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son.

Then Naomi took the child and placed him in her lap, and she became his nurse.

The neighbor women gave him a name, saying, “A son (grandson) has been born to Naomi.” They named him Obed (worshiper). He is the father of Jesse, the father of David [the ancestor of Jesus Christ].