1Now Naomi had a relative on her husband's side, a prominent and wealthy man of the family of Elimelech. His name was Boaz.
2Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, "Let me go to the fields and gather leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor." Naomi said to her, "Go ahead, my daughter."
3So she went out, entered a field, and began to glean behind the harvesters. By chance, she found herself working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the family of Elimelech.
4Just then, Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, "The LORD be with you!" They responded, "The LORD bless you!"
5Boaz asked the servant who was in charge of the harvesters, "Whose young woman is this?"
6The servant replied, "She is the young Moabite woman who returned with Naomi from the land of Moab.
7"She asked, 'Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.' She came and has been working steadily from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter."
8So Boaz said to Ruth, "Listen, my daughter. Do not go to glean in another field, and do not leave this one. Stay close to my young women.
9Keep your eyes on the field they are harvesting and follow after them. I have ordered the young men not to touch you. When you are thirsty, go and drink from the jars the young men have filled."
10She bowed down with her face to the ground and said to him, "Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?"
11Boaz replied, "It has been fully reported to me all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people you did not know before.
12May the LORD reward you for what you have done. May you receive a full reward from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.
13She said, "May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord, because you have comforted me and spoken kindly to your servant—even though I am not one of your servants."
14At mealtime, Boaz said to her, "Come here and eat some bread and dip your morsel in the vinegar." So she sat beside the harvesters, and he offered her roasted grain. She ate, was satisfied, and had some leftover.
15When she got up to glean, Boaz ordered his young men, "Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her.
16Rather, pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to gather. Do not rebuke her."
17So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah of barley.
18She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gleaned. Ruth also brought out and gave Naomi what she had leftover after she had eaten her fill.