Rut 3

Ruth at the threshing floor

¹Naomi, her mother-in-law, said to her, “My daughter, is it not time I looked for a settled home for you, where your life will go well? ²Now Boaz, whose young women you have been working with, is our relative, is he not? Tonight he is winnowing barley on the threshing floor. ³So bathe, put on perfumed oil, dress yourself well, and go down to the threshing floor. But keep out of the man’s sight until his eating and drinking are over.^{a 4}When he lies down, mark the spot where he is lying. Then go to him, uncover his feet and lie down there, and he will tell you what you should do.”^{bc 5}Ruth answered her, “I will do everything you tell me.” ⁶So she went down to the threshing floor and did exactly as her mother-in-law had instructed her. ⁷Boaz ate and drank and was in a happy mood. He went off and lay down at the far end of the grain pile, and she came quietly, uncovered his feet, and lay down. ⁸In the middle of the night the man woke with a start and turned over. A woman was lying at his feet! ⁹“Who are you?” he asked. She answered, “I am Ruth, your servant. Spread the wing of your cloak over your servant, for you are a family redeemer.”^{d 10}He said, “May the LORD bless you, my daughter! This faithful love you have shown now is greater than what you showed before, since you have not looked to the young men for a husband, whether poor or rich. ¹¹So now, my daughter, have no fear. Whatever you ask, I will do for you. The whole town knows you are a woman of real worth. ¹²It is true that I am a family redeemer, but there is a family redeemer more closely related than I am.^{e 13}Stay here for the night. In the morning, if he will act as redeemer for you, well and good: let him do it. But if he does not want to redeem you, then as surely as the LORD lives, I will redeem you myself. Lie down here until morning.” ¹⁴So she lay at his feet until morning, but she got up before it was light enough for anyone to recognize another. And he said, “It must not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor.” ¹⁵Then he said, “Hand me the shawl you have on and hold it out.” When she held it out, he measured six measures of barley into it and set the load on her. Then he went into the town.^{fg 16}When she came to her mother-in-law, Naomi said, “How do things stand with you, my daughter?” Then Ruth told her everything the man had done for her. ¹⁷She said, “He gave me these six measures of barley. ‘Do not go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed,’ he told me.” ¹⁸Naomi said, “Stay here quietly, my daughter, until you know how things fall out. The man will not rest until he has brought the matter to an end today.”