Ruth 2:18-23

The Voice

¹⁸Then she carried it back to the city where her mother-in-law saw how much she had gleaned. Ruth took out the leftover food from what she could not eat of her midday meal and gave it to Naomi.

Naomi (to Ruth): ¹⁹Where did you go to work today? Where did you glean all this from? May God bless the person who gave you this kind of attention.

So Ruth told Naomi the story of all that had happened to her that day and on whose land she had worked.

Ruth: The man I worked with today is named Boaz.

Naomi: ²⁰May the Eternal bless this man. He has not given up showing His covenant love toward the living and the dead.

This man is closely related to us—he is a kinsman-redeemer of our family.

The kinsman-redeemer is the closest relative and has the responsibility to save his family members from any evil or hardship.

Ruth^[a]: ²¹That is not all he did. Boaz also instructed me to stay with his young workers for the remainder of his grain harvesting season.

Naomi: ²²It is best that you do as he says. Stay with his young women who bind the sheaves. They will keep you safe from the hostility and danger of working in another’s field.

²³So that is what Ruth did. She kept close to Boaz’s young female servants and picked up everything they dropped. She worked hard throughout the seven weeks of the wheat and barley seasons until the harvest was complete in early summer. And this whole time she lived at her mother-in-law’s home.

Read full chapter