During the time of the judges there was a famine in the land of Judah. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah went to live as a resident foreigner in the region of Moab, along with his wife and two sons.

(Now the man's name was Elimelech, his wife was Naomi, and his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were of the clan of Ephrath from Bethlehem in Judah.) They entered the region of Moab and settled there.

So her sons married Moabite women. (One was named Orpah and the other Ruth.) And they continued to live there about ten years.

She and her daughters-in-law prepared to return from the country of Moab, because she had heard while living there how the LORD had come to the aid of his people, giving them relief.

And she will go forth from the place where she was there, and her two daughters-in-law with her; and they will go in the way to turn back to the land of Judah.

But Naomi replied, "Go back home, my daughters! There is no reason for you to return to Judah with me! I am no longer capable of giving birth to sons who might become your husbands!

Go back home, my daughters! For I am too old to get married again. Even if I thought that there was hope that I could get married tonight and conceive sons,

But Ruth said, "Entreat me not to leave thee, and to return from after thee. For whither thou goest, I will go. And where thou dwellest, there I will dwell. Thy people are my people, and thy God is my God.

Wherever you die, I will die -- and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me severely if I do not keep my promise! Only death will be able to separate me from you!"

Keep your eyes on the field they are cutting, and go after them; have I not given orders to the young men not to put a hand on you? And when you are in need of drink go to the vessels and take of what the young men have put there.

And Boaz said to her at mealtime - Draw nigh hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. So she sat beside the reapers, and there was reached to her parched corn, and she did eat and was satisfied, and left thereof remaining.

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.”

So she gleaned in the field, until the evening, - and beat out that which she had gleaned, and there was about an ephah of barley.

And now, is there not Boaz, our relation, with whose young women you were? See, tonight he is separating the grain from the waste in his grain-floor.

So bathe yourself, rub on some perfumed oil, and get dressed up. Then go down to the threshing floor. But don't let the man know you're there until he finishes his meal.

And it will be in his lying down, and know thou the place where he shall lie down there, and go in and uncover from his feet, and lie down; and he will announce to thee what thou shalt do.

At midnight, Boaz was startled, turned over, and there lying at his feet was a woman!

Now yes, it is true that I am a guardian, but there is another guardian who is a closer relative than I am.

And so she lay at his feet until the morning. And she arose up before one could know another. And he said, "Let no man be aware, that there came any woman unto the threshing floor."

Now Boaz went up to the village gate and sat there. Then along came the guardian whom Boaz had mentioned to Ruth! Boaz said, "Come here and sit down, 'John Doe'!" So he came and sat down.

And I thought to advertise thee, saying, Buy it before the inhabitants, and before the elders of my people. If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it: but if thou wilt not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know: for there is none to redeem it beside thee; and I am after thee. And he said, I will redeem it.

Now, in earlier times this was the way in Israel when property was taken over by a near relation, or when there was a change of owner. To make the exchange certain one man took off his shoe and gave it to the other; and this was a witness in Israel.

Then all of the assembled people, including the elders who were there, said, "We are witnesses! May the LORD make this woman who enters your house like Rachel and Leah, who together established the house of Israel. May you prosper in Ephrathah, and may you excel in Bethlehem!

And the women her neighbours gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David.