Ruth 2

¹And Elimelech her husband had a cousin, a mighty man and of great riches, named Booz.

²And Ruth the Moabite said to her mother in law: If thou command, I will go into the field, and gather the ears of corn, that shall escape the hands of the reapers, where soever I shall find the grace of the father of the house favourable towards me. To whom she answered: Go my daughter.

³She went therefore & gathered the ears of corn after the backs of the reapers. And it chanced that the owner of the same field was Booz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech.

⁴And behold, he came out of Bethlehem, and said to the reapers: Our Lord be with you. Who answered him: Our Lord bless thee.

⁵And Booz said to the young man that was overseer of the reapers: Whose maid is this?

⁶To whom he answered: This is that Moabite, which came with Noemi from the country of Moab,

⁷and she desired that she might gather the ears of corn that remain, following the steps of the reapers: and from morning until now she stayeth in the field, and not so much as for a very moment hath she returned home.

⁸And Booz said to Ruth: Hear me daughter, go not into another field to gather, neither depart thou from his place: but join thyself to my maids,

⁹& where they have reaped, follow. For I have commanded my servants, that no man molest thee: but if thou shalt thirst also, go to the fardels, and drink the waters, whereof the servants also do drink.

¹⁰Who falling on her face and adoring upon the ground, said to him: Whence cometh this to me, that I should find grace before thine eyes, and that thou wouldst vouchsafe to know me a strange woman?

¹¹To whom he answered: All things have been told me, which thou hast done to thy mother in law after the death of thy husband: and that thou left thy parents, and the land wherein thou wast born, and art come to a people, which before thou knewest not.

¹²Our Lord render unto thee for thy work, and God grant thou mayest receive a full reward of our Lord thy God of Israel, to whom thou art come, & under whose wings thou art fled.

¹³Who said: I have found grace in thine eyes my Lord, which hast comforted me, and hast spoken to the heart of thy handmaid, which am not like to one of thy maids.

¹⁴And Booz said to her: When the hour shall come to eat, come hither, and eat bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. She therefore sat at the side of the reapers, and she heaped to herself polent, and did eat and was filled, & took the leavings.

¹⁵And from thence she arose to glean the ears of corn after her manner. And Booz commanded his servants, saying: Yea & if she will reap with you, forbid her not:

¹⁶and of your own handfuls also cast forth of purpose, and let them remain, that she may gather them without bashfulness, and gathering let no man control her.

¹⁷She gleaned therefore in the field until evening: and that which she had gathered beating with a rod and threshing she found of barley as it were the measure of an ephi, that is, three bushels.

¹⁸Which carrying she returned into the city, and shewed to her mother in law: moreover she brought forth, & gave her of the remains of her meat, wherewith she had been filled.

¹⁹And her mother in law said to her: Where hast thou gathered today, & where hast thou wrought? Blessed be he that hath had mercy on thee. And she told her with whom she had wrought: and she told the man's name, that he was called Booz.

²⁰To whom Noemi answered: Be he blessed of our Lord: because the same grace, which he had shewed to the living, he hath kept also to the dead. And again she said: The man is our nigh cousin.

²¹And Ruth: This also, quoth she, he commanded me, that so long I should join myself to the reapers, till all the corn were reaped.

²²To whom her mother in law said: It is better my daughter, that thou go forth with his maids to reap, lest in another man's field some may resist thee.

²³She therefore joined herself to the maids of Booz: and so long reaped with them, till the barley and the wheat were laid up in the barns.