The Book of
RUTH
-- Literal Translation of the Holy Bible - Copyright © 1976 - 2000 --

Chapter: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |

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Ruth 1
1 ¶ And it happened in the days of the judging of those judging, there was a famine in the land. And a man from Bethlehem-judah went to live in the fields of Moab, he and his wife, and his two sons.
2 And the name of the man was Elimelech; and the name of his wife Naomi. And the name of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites from Bethlehem-judah. And they came into the fields of Moab, and remained there.
3 And Naomi's husband Elimelech died; And she was left, and her two sons.
4 And they took wives to themselves, women of Moab. The name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the second, Ruth. And they lived there about ten years.
5 And they also died, both of them, Mahlon and Chilion. And the woman was bereaved of her two children and of her husband.
6 ¶ And she rose up, she and her daughters-in-law, and turned back from the fields of Moab. For she had heard in the fields of Moab that Jehovah had visited His people, to give food to them.
7 And she went out from the place where she had been, and her two daughters-in-law with her. And they went in the way to return to the land of Judah.
8 And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, Go, each return to the house of her mother. May Jehovah deal kindly with you, as you have done with the dead, and with me.
9 May Jehovah grant to you that you find rest, each in the house of her husband. And she kissed them, and they lifted up their voice and wept.
10 And they said to her, Nevertheless, we will go back with you to your people.
11 And Naomi said, Turn back, my daughters. Why should you go with me? Are there yet sons to me in my belly that they should be husbands for you?
12 Turn back, my daughters, go. For I am too old to belong to a husband. Though I should say, There is hope for me, and I should be tonight with a husband, and also I should bear sons;
13 will you wait for them, that they might grow up? Will you shut yourselves up for them, not to belong to a husband? No, my daughters, for it is much more bitter for me than for you, for the hand of Jehovah has gone out against me.
14 And they lifted up their voice and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother in law, but Ruth clung to her.
15 And she said, See, your sister-in-law has turned back to her people, and to her gods. You turn back after your sister-in-law.
16 And Ruth said, Do not entreat me to leave you, to turn back from following you. For where you go, I will go. And where you stay, I will stay. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.
17 Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May Jehovah do to me, and more so, if anything but death part you and me.
18 And she saw that she had made herself strong to go with her; and she ceased to speak to her.
19 ¶ And they went, both of them, until they came into Bethlehem. And it happened as they came into Bethlehem, all the city was moved at them. And they said, Is this Naomi?
20 And she said to them, Do not call me Naomi. Call me Bitterness, for the Almighty has dealt bitterly with me.
21 I went out full, and Jehovah has brought me back empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since Jehovah has set His eye against me, and the Almighty has done evil to me?
22 And Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the fields of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.

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Ruth 2
1 ¶ And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband, a mighty man of the family of Elimelech. And his name was Boaz.
2 And Ruth of Moab said to Naomi, Let me now go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor. And she said to her, Go, my daughter.
3 And she went. And she came and gleaned in the field after the reapers. And she happened by circumstance on the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of Elimelech's family.
4 ¶ And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said to the reapers, Jehovah be with you. And they answered him, Jehovah bless you.
5 And Boaz said to his young man who had been set over the reapers, Whose is this young woman?
6 And the young man who had been set over the reapers replied and said, She is a young woman of Moab who came with Naomi from the fields of Moab.
7 And she said, Please let me glean, and I shall gather among the sheaves after the reapers. And she came and has remained since morning, even until now. She sat in the house a little while.
8 And Boaz said to Ruth, Do you not hear, my daughter? Do not go to glean another field, and also do not pass through this. And you shall stay close to my young women.
9 Your eyes shall be on the field which they shall reap, and you shall go after them. Have I not commanded the young men not to touch you? When you are thirsty, then you shall go to the vessels and shall drink from that which the young men draw.
10 And she fell on her face and bowed to the earth, and said to him, Why have I found grace in your eyes, that you should notice me, and I a foreigner?
11 And Boaz answered and said to her, It has been fully revealed to me all that you have done with your mother-in-law after the death of your husband. And you left your father and your mother, and the land of your birth, and came to a people which you had not known before.
12 Jehovah shall repay your work, and your reward shall be complete from Jehovah the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.
13 And she said, Let me find grace in your eyes, my lord, because you have comforted me, and because you have spoken to the heart of your handmaid. And I surely am not as one of your handmaids.
14 And Boaz said to her, At mealtime come here, and you shall eat of the bread and dip your morsel in the vinegar. And she sat at the side of the reapers, and he reached out roasted grain to her. And she ate and was satisfied, and had some left over.
15 And she rose up to glean. And Boaz commanded his young men, saying, She shall glean even between the sheaves, and you shall not cause her to be ashamed.
16 And pulling you shall also pull out for her of the bundles, and shall leave; and she shall glean, and you shall not restrain her.
17 ¶ And she gleaned in the field until the evening, and beat out that which she had gleaned. And it was about an ephah of barley.
18 And she took it up and went to the city. And her mother-in-law saw that which she had gleaned. And she brought out and gave to her that which she had reserved after she was satisfied.
19 And her mother-in-law said to her, Where have you gleaned today? And where have you worked? May he who noticed you be blessed. And she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, and said, The name of the man with whom I have worked today is Boaz.
20 And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, Blessed is he of Jehovah who has not forsaken his kindness with the living and with the dead. And Naomi said to her, The man is near of kin to us; he is of our redeemers.
21 And Ruth of Moab said, And he surely said to me, You shall stay close, near to the young men whom I have, until they have completed the whole harvest which I have.
22 And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law Ruth, Good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, and that men may not attack you in another field.
23 And she stayed close to the young women of Boaz to glean, until the end of the barley harvest, and of the wheat harvest. And she lived with her mother-in-law.

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Ruth 3
1 ¶ And her mother-in-law Naomi said to her, My daughter, do I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you?
2 And now, is not Boaz of our kindred, with whose young women you have been? Behold, he is winnowing the threshing floor of barley tonight.
3 And you shall bathe, and anoint yourself, and put your garments on you, and go down to the threshing floor. Do not let yourself be known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking.
4 And it shall be, when he lies down, you shall know the place where he lies down. And you shall go in and uncover his feet, and lie down. And he will tell you that which you are to do.
5 And she said to her, All that you say, I will do.
6 ¶ And she went down to the threshing floor and did according to all that her mother-in-law commanded her.
7 And Boaz ate and drank, and his heart felt good. And he went to lie down at the end of the heap. And she came secretly and uncovered his feet, and lay down.
8 And it happened in the middle of the night, that the man trembled and turned himself. And, behold, a woman was lying at his feet!
9 And he said, Who are you? And she said, I am your handmaid Ruth, and you shall spread your skirt over your handmaid, for you are a kinsman redeemer.
10 And he said, Blessed be you of Jehovah, my daughter. You have dealt more kindly at the latter end than at the beginning, not to go after the young men, either poor or rich.
11 And now, my daughter, do not fear. All that you say I will do to you, for all the gate of my people know that you are a woman of virtue.
12 And now, surely it is true that I am a kinsman redeemer. But there also is a redeemer nearer than I.
13 Stay tonight, and it shall be in the morning, if he will redeem you, well; he will redeem. And if he does not delight to redeem you, as Jehovah lives, then I will redeem you. Lie down until the morning.
14 ¶ And she lay at his feet until the morning, and rose up before one could discern another. And he said, Let it not be known that a woman has come to the grain floor.
15 And he said, Give me the covering which is on you, and hold on to it. And she kept hold on it, and he measured six measures of barley, and lay it on her. And she went in to the city.
16 And she came in to her mother-in-law. And she said, Who are you, my daughter? And she told her all that the man had done to her.
17 And she said, He gave me these six measures of barley, for he said, You shall not go empty to your mother-in-law.
18 And she said, Sit, my daughter, until you shall know how the matter falls, for the man shall not rest until he has finished the matter today.

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Ruth 4
1 ¶ And Boaz went up to the gate and sat there. And, behold, the near kinsman of whom Boaz had spoken was passing by. And he said, Such a one, turn aside, sit down. And he turned aside and sat down.
2 And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit down here. And they sat down.
3 And he said to the near kinsman, Naomi, who has returned from the fields of Moab, will sell a portion of the field which belonged to our brother, to Elimelech.
4 And I said I would uncover your ear, saying, Buy it before those sitting, and before the elders of my people. If you will redeem, redeem. But if you will not redeem, tell me so that I may know. For there is no one besides you to redeem, and I after you. And he said, I will redeem it.
5 And Boaz said, In the day you buy the field from Naomi's hand, even you have bought from Ruth of Moab, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of him who died over his inheritance.
6 And the near kinsman said, I am not able to redeem for myself, that I not mar my own inheritance. You redeem for yourself my right of redemption, for I am not able to redeem.
7 And this formerly was done in Israel for redemption, and for changing, to lift up every matter. A man would draw off his sandal and gave to his neighbor. And this was the attestation in Israel.
8 And the near kinsman said to Boaz, Buy for yourself, and drew off his sandal.
9 ¶ And Boaz said to the elders, and all the people, You are witnesses today that I have bought all that belonged to Elimelech, and all that was to Chilion and Mahlon, from the hand of Naomi.
10 And also Ruth of Moab, the wife of Mahlon, I have bought for myself for a wife, to raise up the name of him who died over his inheritance. And the name of him who died shall not be cut off from among his brothers, and from the gate of his place. You are witnesses today.
11 And all the people who were in the gate and the elders, said, We are witnesses. May Jehovah make the woman who is coming into your house to be as Rachel and as Leah, both of whom built the house of Israel. And may you do worthily in Ephratah, and proclaim the Name in Bethlehem.
12 And let your house be as the house of Pharez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, of the Seed which Jehovah shall give to you of this young woman.
13 ¶ And Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And he went in to her, and Jehovah gave her conception, and she bore a son.
14 And the women said to Naomi, Blessed be Jehovah, who has not left you this day without a redeemer; and may his name be called in Israel.
15 And may he be to you a restorer of life, and a nourisher of your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you has borne him, who is better to you than seven sons.
16 And Naomi took the child, and laid him in her bosom, and became nurse to him.
17 And the neighboring women gave him a name, saying, This is a son born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David.
18 And these are the generations of Pharez: Pharez fathered Hezron;
19 and Hezron fathered Ram; and Ram fathered Amminadab;
20 and Amminadab fathered Nahshon; and Nahshon fathered Salmon;
21 and Salmon fathered Boaz; and Boaz fathered Obed;
22 and Obed fathered Jesse; and Jesse fathered David.

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Scripture taken from the Literal Translation of the Holy Bible
Copyright © 1976 - 2000
By Jay P. Green, Sr.
Used by permission of the copyright holder

[Policy for Reprint & Quoting from the Literal Translation]