Each of her sons married Moabite women: one named Orpah and the other named Ruth. After they lived there about ten years,

They began to cry loudly again. So Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye, but Ruth remained with her.

Naomi told Ruth, "Look, your sister-in-law has returned to her people and to her gods. Follow your sister-in-law!"

But Ruth answered, "Stop urging me to abandon you and to turn back from following you. Because wherever you go, I'll go. Wherever you live, I'll live. Your people will be my people, and your God, my God.

When Naomi observed Ruth's determination to travel with her, she ended the conversation.

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

Ruth the Moabite told Naomi, "Please allow me to go out to the fields and glean grain behind anyone who shows me kindness." So Naomi replied, "Go ahead, my daughter."

Boaz then addressed Ruth: "Listen, my daughter! Don't glean in any other field. Don't even leave this one, and be sure to stay close to my women servants.

So Ruth gathered grain out in the field until dusk, and then threshed what she had gathered about a week's supply of barley.

Her mother-in-law noticed how much Ruth had gleaned and had brought back from what was left over from her lunch. So her mother-in-law quizzed her, "Where did you glean today? Where, precisely, did you work? May the one who took notice of you be blessed." So Ruth told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked. She said, "The man's name with whom I worked today is Boaz."

Then Ruth the Moabite woman added, "He also told me "Stay close to my young men until they have completed my entire harvest.'"

Naomi responded to her daughter-in-law Ruth, "It is prudent, my daughter, for you to go out with his women servants, so someone won't attack you in another field."

So Ruth continued to stay close to the young women who worked for Boaz, gathering grain until both the barley and wheat harvests were complete, all the while living with her mother-in-law.

Ruth's mother-in-law Naomi, told her, "My daughter, should I not make inquiries about your financial security, so you'll be better off in life?

Ruth replied, "I'll do everything you've said."

After Boaz had finished eating and drinking to his heart's content, he went over and lay down next to the pile of threshed grain. Ruth came in quietly, uncovered his feet, and lay down.

He asked her, "Who are you?" She answered, "I'm only Ruth, your servant. Spread the edge of your garment over your servant, because you are my related redeemer."

When Ruth returned to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked her, "How did it go, my daughter?"

Then she related everything that the man had done for her. Ruth also said, "He gave me these six units of barley and told me, "Don't go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.'"

Boaz continued, "On the very day you buy the field from Naomi, you're also "buying" Ruth the Moabite woman, the wife of her dead husband, so the family name may be continued as an inheritance."

along with Mahlon's wife Ruth the Moabite woman. I will marry her to continue the family name as an inheritance, so that the name of the deceased does not disappear from among his relatives, nor from the public record. You are all witnesses today!"

So Boaz took Ruth to be his wife, and when he had marital relations with her, the LORD made her conceive, and she bore a son.