The Book of Ruth, Chapter 1
1 In the days of one of the judges, when the judges ruled,
there came a famine in the land. And a certain man of
Bethlehem Juda, went to sojourn in the land of Moab with
his wife and his two sons.
2 He was named Elimelech, and his wife, Noemi: and his two
sons, the one Mahalon, and the other Chelion, Ephrathites
of Bethlehem Juda. And entering into the country of Moab,
they abode there.
3 And Elimelech the husband of Noemi died: and she remained
with her sons.
4 And they took wives of the women of Moab, of which one was
called Orpha, and the other Ruth. And they dwelt there ten
years.
5 And they both died, to wit, Mahalon and Chelion: and the
woman was left alone, having lost both her sons and her
husband.
6 And she arose to go from the land of Moab to her own
country with both her daughters in law: for she had heard
that the Lord had looked upon his people, and had given
them food.
7 Wherefore she went forth out of the place of her
sojournment, with both her daughters in law: and being now
in the way to return into the land of Juda,
8 She said to them: Go ye home to your mothers: the Lord
deal mercifully with you, as you have dealt with the dead
and with me.
9 May he grant you to find rest in the houses of the
husbands which you shall take. And she kissed them. And
they lifted up their voice and began to weep,
10 And to say: We will go on with thee to thy people.
11 But she answered them: Return, my daughters: why come ye
with me? have I any more sons in my womb, that you may
hope for husbands of me?
12 Return again, my daughters, and go your ways: for I am now
spent with age, and not fit for wedlock. Although I might
conceive this night, and bear children,
13 If you would wait till they were grown up, and come to
man's estate, you would be old women before you marry. Do
not so, my daughters, I beseech you: for I am grieved the
more for your distress, and the hand of the Lord is gone
out against me.
14 And they lifted up their voice, and began to weep again:
Orpha kissed her mother in law and returned: Ruth stuck
close to her mother in law.
15 And Noemi said to her: Behold thy kinswoman is returned to
her people, and to her gods, go thou with her.
16 She answered: Be not against me, to desire that I should
leave thee and depart: for whithersoever thou shalt go, I
will go: and where thou shalt dwell, I also will dwell.
Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.
17 The land that shall receive thee dying, in the same will
I die: and there will I be buried. The Lord do so and so
to me, and add more also, if aught but death part me and
thee.
18 Then Noemi, seeing that Ruth was steadfastly determined to
go with her, would not be against it, nor persuade her any
more to return to her friends:
19 So they went together and came to Bethlehem. And when they
were come into the city, the report was quickly spread
among all: and the women said: This is that Noemi.
20 But she said to them: Call me not Noemi, (that is,
beautiful,) but call me Mara, (that is, bitter,) for the
Almighty hath quite filled me with bitterness.
21 I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me back empty.
Why then do you call me Noemi, whom the Lord hath humbled
and the Almighty hath afflicted?
22 So Noemi came with Ruth the Moabitess her daughter in law,
from the land of her sojournment: and returned into
Bethlehem, in the beginning of the barley harvest.
The Book of Ruth, Chapter 2
1 Now her husband Elimelech had a kinsman, a powerful man,
and very rich, whose name was Booz.
2 And Ruth the Moabitess said to her mother in law: If thou
wilt, I will go into the field, and glean the ears of corn
that escape the hands of the reapers, wheresoever I shall
find grace with a householder that will be favourable to
me. And she answered her: Go, my daughter.
3 She went therefore and gleaned the ears of corn after the
reapers. And it happened that the owner of that field was
Booz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech.
4 And behold, he came out of Bethlehem, and said to the
reapers: The Lord be with you. And they answered him: The
Lord bless thee.
5 And Booz said to the young man that was set over the
reapers: Whose maid is this?
6 And he answered him: This is the Moabitess who came with
Noemi, from the land of Moab,
7 And she desired leave to glean the ears of corn that
remain, following the steps of the reapers: and she hath
been in the field from morning till now, and hath not gone
home for one moment.
8 And Booz said to Ruth: Hear me, daughter, do not go to
glean in any other field, and do not depart from this
place: but keep with my maids,
9 And follow where they reap. For I have charged my young
men, not to molest thee: and if thou art thirsty, go to
the vessels, and drink of the waters whereof the servants
drink.
10 She fell on her face and worshipping upon the ground, said
to him: Whence cometh this to me, that I should find grace
before thy eyes, and that thou shouldst vouchsafe to take
notice of me a woman of another country?
11 And he answered her: All hath been told me, that thou hast
done to thy mother in law after the death of thy husband:
and how thou hast left thy parents, and the land wherein
thou wast born, and art come to a people which thou
knewest not heretofore.
12 The Lord render unto thee for thy work, and mayest thou
receive a full reward of the Lord the God of Israel, to
whom thou art come, and under whose wings thou art fled.
13 And she said: I have found grace in thy eyes, my lord, who
hast comforted me and hast spoken to the heart of thy
handmaid, who am not like to one of thy maids.
14 And Booz said to her: At mealtime come thou hither, and
eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. So
she sat at the side of the reapers, and she heaped to
herself frumenty, and ate and was filled, and took the
leavings.
15 And she arose from thence, to glean the ears of corn as
before. And Booz commanded his servants, saying: If she
would even reap with you, hinder her not:
16 And let fall some of your handfuls of purpose, and leave
them, that she may gather them without shame, and let no
man rebuke her when she gathereth them.
17 She gleaned therefore in the field till evening: and
beating out with a rod and threshing what she had gleaned,
she found about the measure of an ephi of barley, that is,
three bushels:
18 Which she took up and returned into the city, and shewed
it to her mother in law: moreover she brought out, and
gave her of the remains of her meat, wherewith she had
been filled.
19 And her mother in law said to her: Where hast thou gleaned
to day, and where hast thou wrought? blessed be he that
hath had pity on thee. And she told her with whom she had
wrought: and she told the man's name, that he was called
Booz.
20 And Noemi answered her: Blessed be he of the Lord: because
the same kindness which he shewed to the living, he hath
kept also to the dead. And again she said: The man is our
kinsman.
21 And Ruth said, He also charged me, that I should keep
close to his reapers, till all the corn should be reaped.
22 And her mother in law said to her: It is better for thee,
my daughter, to go out to reap with his maids, lest in
another man's field some one may resist thee.
23 So she kept close to the maids of Booz: and continued to
glean with them, till all the barley and the wheat were
laid up in the barns.
The Book of Ruth, Chapter 3
1 After she was returned to her mother in law, Noemi said to
her: My daughter, I will seek rest for thee, and will
provide that it may be well with thee.
2 This Booz, with whose maids thou wast joined in the field,
is our near kinsman, and behold this night he winnoweth
barley in the threshingfloor.
3 Wash thyself therefore and anoint thee, and put on thy
best garments, and go down to the barnfloor: but let not
the man see thee, till he shall have done eating and
drinking.
4 And when he shall go to sleep, mark the place wherein he
sleepeth: and thou shalt go in, and lift up the clothes
wherewith he is covered towards his feet, and shalt lay
thyself down there: and he will tell thee what thou must
do.
5 She answered: Whatsoever thou shalt command, I will do.
6 And she went down to the barnfloor, and did all that her
mother in law had bid her.
7 And when Booz had eaten, and drunk, and was merry, he went
to sleep by the heap of sheaves, and she came softly and
uncovering his feet, laid herself down.
8 And behold, when it was now midnight the man was afraid,
and troubled: and he saw a woman lying at his feet,
9 And he said to her: Who art thou? And she answered: I am
Ruth thy handmaid: spread thy coverlet over thy servant,
for thou art a near kinsman.
10 And he said: Blessed art thou of the Lord, my daughter,
and thy latter kindness has surpassed the former: because
thou hast not followed young men either poor or rich.
11 Fear not therefore, but whatsoever thou shalt say to me I
will do to thee. For all the people that dwell within the
gates of my city, know that thou art a virtuous woman.
12 Neither do I deny myself to be near of kin, but there is
another nearer than I.
13 Rest thou this night: and when morning is come, if he will
take thee by the right of kindred, all is well: but if he
will not, I will undoubtedly take thee, as the Lord
liveth: sleep till the morning.
14 So she slept at his feet till the night was going off. And
she arose before men could know one another, and Booz
said: Beware lest any man know that thou camest hither.
15 And again he said: Spread thy mantle, wherewith thou art
covered, and hold it with both hands. And when she spread
it and held it, he measured six measures of barley, and
laid it upon her. And she carried it and went into the
city,
16 And came to her mother in law; who said to her: What hast
thou done, daughter? And she told her all that the man had
done to her.
17 And she said: Behold he hath given me six measures of
barley: for he said: I will not have thee return empty to
thy mother in law.
18 And Noemi said: Wait my daughter, till we see what end the
thing will have. For the man will not rest until he have
accomplished what he hath said.
The Book of Ruth, Chapter 4
1 Then Booz went up to the gate, and sat there. And when he
had seen the kinsman going by, of whom he had spoken
before, he said to him, calling him by his name: Turn
aside for a little while, and sit down here. He turned
aside, and sat down.
2 And Booz taking ten men of the ancients of the city, said
to them: Sit ye down here.
3 They sat down, and he spoke to the kinsman: Noemi, who is
returned from the country of Moab, will sell a parcel of
land that belonged to our brother Elimelech.
4 I would have thee to understand this, and would tell thee
before all that sit here, and before the ancients of my
people. If thou wilt take possession of it by the right of
kindred: buy it and possess it: but if it please thee not,
tell me so, that I may know what I have to do. For there
is no near kinsman besides thee, who art first, and me,
who am second. But he answered: I will buy the field.
5 And Booz said to him: When thou shalt buy the field at the
woman's hand, thou must take also Ruth the Moabitess, who
was the wife of the deceased: to raise up the name of thy
kinsman in his inheritance.
6 He answered: I yield up my right of next akin: for I must
not cut off the posterity of my own family. Do thou make
use of my privilege, which I profess I do willingly
forego.
7 Now this in former times was the manner in Israel between
kinsmen, that if at any time one yielded his right to
another: that the grant might be sure, the man put off his
shoe, and gave it to his neighhour; this was a testimony
of cession of right in Israel.
8 So Booz said to his kinsman: Put off thy shoe. And
immediately he took it off from his foot.
9 And he said to the ancients and to all the people: You are
witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was
Elimelech's, and Chelion's, and Mahalon's, of the hand of
Noemi:
10 And have taken to wife Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of
Mahalon, to raise up the name of the deceased in his
inheritance lest his name be cut off, from among his
family and his brethren and his people. You, I say, are
witnesses of this thing.
11 Then all the people that were in the gate, and the
ancients answered: We are witnesses: The Lord make this
woman who cometh into thy house, like Rachel, and Lia, who
built up the house of Israel: that she may be an example
of virtue in Ephrata, and may have a famous name in
Bethlehem:
12 And that the house may be, as the house of Phares, whom
Thamar bore unto Juda, of the seed which the Lord shall
give thee of this young woman.
13 Booz therefore took Ruth, and married her: and went in
unto her, and the Lord gave her to conceive and to bear a
son.
14 And the women said to Noemi: Blessed be the Lord, who hath
not suffered thy family to want a successor, that his name
should be preserved in Israel.
15 And thou shouldst have one to comfort thy soul, and
cherish thy old age. For he is born of thy daughter in
law: who loveth thee: and is much better to thee, than if
thou hadst seven sons.
16 And Noemi taking the child laid it in her bosom, and she
carried it, and was a nurse unto it.
17 And the women her neighbours, congratulating with her and
saying: There is a son born to Noemi: called his name
Obed: he is the father of Isai, the father of David.
18 These are the generations of Phares: Phares begot Esron,
19 Esron begot Aram, Aram begot Aminadab,
20 Aminadab begot Nahasson, Nahasson begot Salmon,
21 Salmon begot Booz, Booz begot Obed,
22 Obed begot Isai, Isai begot David.
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