The Living Bible (86 page)

Ruth
1

Long ago when judges ruled in Israel, a man named Elimelech, from Bethlehem,
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left the country because of a famine and moved to the land of Moab. With him were his wife, Naomi, and his two sons, Mahlon and Chilion.
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 During the time of their residence there, Elimelech died and Naomi was left with her two sons.

    
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 These young men, Mahlon and Chilion, married girls of Moab, Orpah and Ruth. But later, both men died, so that Naomi was left alone, without her husband or sons.
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 She decided to return to Israel with her daughters-in-law, for she had heard that the Lord had blessed his people by giving them good crops again.

    
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 But after they had begun their homeward journey, she changed her mind and said to her two daughters-in-law, “Why don’t you return to your parents’ homes instead of coming with me? And may the Lord reward you for your faithfulness to your husbands and to me.
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 And may he bless you with another happy marriage.” Then she kissed them, and they all broke down and cried.

    
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 “No,” they said. “We want to go with you to your people.”

    
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 But Naomi replied, “It is better for you to return to your own people. Do I have younger sons who could grow up to be your husbands?
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¹²
 No, my daughters, return to your parents’ homes, for I am too old to have a husband. And even if that were possible, and I became pregnant tonight, and bore sons
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 would you wait for them to grow up? No, of course not, my daughters; oh, how I grieve for you that the Lord has punished me in a way that injures you.”

    
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 And again they cried together, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye, and returned to her childhood home; but Ruth insisted on staying with Naomi.

    
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 “See,” Naomi said to her, “your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; you should do the same.”

    
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 But Ruth replied, “Don’t make me leave you, for I want to go wherever you go and to live wherever you live; your people shall be my people, and your God shall be my God;
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 I want to die where you die and be buried there. May the Lord do terrible things to me if I allow anything but death to separate us.”

    
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 And when Naomi saw that Ruth had made up her mind and could not be persuaded otherwise, she stopped urging her.
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 So they both came to Bethlehem, and the entire village was stirred by their arrival.

    
“Is it really Naomi?” the women asked.

    
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 But she told them, “Don’t call me Naomi. Call me Mara,” (Naomi means “pleasant”; Mara means “bitter”) “for Almighty God has dealt me bitter blows.
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 I went out full and the Lord has brought me home empty; why should you call me Naomi when the Lord has turned his back on me and sent such calamity!”

    
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 (Their return from Moab and arrival in Bethlehem was at the beginning of the barley harvest.)

Ruth
2

Now Naomi had an in-law there in Bethlehem who was a very wealthy man. His name was Boaz.

    
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 One day Ruth said to Naomi, “Perhaps I can go out into the fields of some kind man to glean the free grain
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behind his reapers.”

    
And Naomi said, “All right, dear daughter. Go ahead.”

    
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 So she did. And as it happened, the field where she found herself belonged to Boaz, this relative of Naomi’s husband.

    
^4-5
 Boaz arrived from the city while she was there. After exchanging greetings with the reapers he said to his foreman, “Hey, who’s that girl over there?”

    
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 And the foreman replied, “It’s that girl from the land of Moab who came back with Naomi.
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 She asked me this morning if she could pick up the grains dropped by the reapers, and she has been at it ever since except for a few minutes’ rest over there in the shade.”

    
^8-9
 Boaz went over and talked to her. “Listen, my child,” he said to her. “Stay right here with us to glean; don’t think of going to any other fields. Stay right behind my women workers; I have warned the young men not to bother you; when you are thirsty, go and help yourself to the water.”

    
^10-11
 She thanked him warmly. “How can you be so kind to me?” she asked. “You must know I am only a foreigner.”

    
“Yes, I know,” Boaz replied, “and I also know about all the love and kindness you have shown your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you left your father and mother in your own land and have come here to live among strangers.
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 May the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge, bless you for it.”

    
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 “Oh, thank you, sir,” she replied. “You are so good to me, and I’m not even one of your workers!”

    
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 At lunchtime Boaz called to her, “Come and eat with us.”

    
So she sat with his reapers and he gave her food,
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more than she could eat.
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 And when she went back to work again, Boaz told his young men to let her glean right among the sheaves without stopping her,
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 and to snap off some heads of barley and drop them on purpose for her to glean, and not to make any remarks.
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 So she worked there all day, and in the evening when she had beaten out the barley she had gleaned, it came to a whole bushel!
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 She carried it back into the city and gave it to her mother-in-law, with what was left of her lunch.

    
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 “So much!” Naomi exclaimed. “Where in the world did you glean today? Praise the Lord for whoever was so kind to you.” So Ruth told her mother-in-law all about it and mentioned that the owner of the field was Boaz.

    
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 “Praise the Lord for a man like that! God has continued his kindness to us as well as to your dead husband!” Naomi cried excitedly. “Why, that man is one of our closest relatives!”
*

    
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 “Well,” Ruth told her, “he said to come back and stay close behind his reapers until the entire field is harvested.”

    
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 “This is wonderful!” Naomi exclaimed. “Do as he has said. Stay with his girls right through the whole harvest; you will be safer there than in any other field!”

    
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 So Ruth did and gleaned with them until the end of the barley harvest, and then the wheat harvest too.

Ruth
3

One day Naomi said to Ruth, “My dear, isn’t it time that I try to find a husband for you and get you happily married again?
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 The man I’m thinking of is Boaz! He has been so kind to us and is a close relative. I happen to know that he will be winnowing barley tonight out on the threshing floor.
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 Now do what I tell you—bathe and put on some perfume and some nice clothes and go on down to the threshing floor, but don’t let him see you until he has finished his supper.
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 Notice where he lies down to sleep; then go and lift the cover off his feet and lie down there, and he will tell you what to do concerning marriage.”

    
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 And Ruth replied, “All right. I’ll do whatever you say.”

    
^6-7
 So she went down to the threshing floor that night and followed her mother-in-law’s instructions. After Boaz had finished a good meal, he lay down very contentedly beside a heap of grain and went to sleep. Then Ruth came quietly and lifted the covering off his feet and lay there.
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 Suddenly, around midnight, he wakened and sat up, startled. There was a woman lying at his feet!

    
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 “Who are you?” he demanded.

    
“It’s I, sir—Ruth,” she replied. “Make me your wife according to God’s law, for you are my close relative.”

    
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 “Thank God for a girl like you!” he exclaimed. “For you are being even kinder to Naomi now than before. Naturally you’d prefer a younger man, even though poor. But you have put aside your personal desires.
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 Now don’t worry about a thing, my child; I’ll handle all the details, for everyone knows what a wonderful person you are.
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 But there is one problem. It’s true that I am a close relative, but there is someone else who is more closely related to you than I am.
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 Stay here tonight, and in the morning I’ll talk to him, and if he will marry you, fine; let him do his duty; but if he won’t, then I will, I swear by Jehovah; lie down until the morning.”

    
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 So she lay at his feet until the morning and was up early, before daybreak, for he had said to her, “Don’t let it be known that a woman was here at the threshing floor.”

    
^15-18
 “Bring your shawl,” he told her. Then he tied up a bushel and a half of barley in it as a present for her mother-in-law and laid it on her back. Then she returned to the city.

    
“Well, what happened, dear?” Naomi asked her when she arrived home. She told Naomi everything and gave her the barley from Boaz, and mentioned his remark that she mustn’t go home without a present.

    
Then Naomi said to her, “Just be patient until we hear what happens, for Boaz won’t rest until he has followed through on this. He’ll settle it today.”