Ruth Gleans in the Fields of Boaz
Famine takes a Bethlehem family to Moab, where the husband and both sons die, leaving Naomi with two Moabite daughters-in-law. She releases them both; Orpah goes home and Ruth refuses to, in words read at weddings ever since — where you go I will go, your people shall be my people.
Back in Bethlehem, Ruth gleans in a field belonging to Boaz, exercising the right of the poor to the edges and leavings of a harvest. Boaz notices her, protects her, and has extra grain left deliberately in her path.
Acting on Naomi's plan, Ruth asks Boaz at the threshing floor to act as family redeemer. A nearer relative declines the obligation at the town gate, and Boaz marries her. The book ends by naming their descendants: Obed, Jesse, and David — a Moabite woman in the royal line.
Where in scripture
[1] In the days when the judges judged, there was a famine in the land. A certain man of Bethlehem Judah went to live in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons. [2] The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi. The names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem Judah. They came into the country of Moab, and lived there. [3] Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left with her two sons. [4] They took for themselves wives of the women of Moab. The name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other was Ruth. They lived there about ten years. [5] Mahlon and Chilion both died, and the woman was bereaved of her two children and of her husband. …
Ruth 1:1–22 — opening verses
Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, a public-domain translation.
