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Title: The World English Bible (WEB): Ruth
Release Date: June, 2005 [EBook #8235]
[This file was first posted on July 4, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE WORLD ENGLISH BIBLE (WEB): RUTH ***
From www.ebible.org with slight reformatting by Martin Ward.
Book 08 Ruth
001:001 It happened in the days when the judges judged, that there
was a famine in the land. A certain man of Bethlehem Judah
went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife,
and his two sons.
001:002 The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi,
and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of
Bethlehem Judah. They came into the country of Moab,
and continued there.
001:003 Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died; and she was left,
and her two sons.
001:004 They took them wives of the women of Moab; the name
of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth:
and they lived there about ten years.
001:005 Mahlon and Chilion died both of them; and the woman was left
of her two children and of her husband.
001:006 Then she arose with her daughters-in-law, that she might return
from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab
how that Yahweh had visited his people in giving them bread.
001:007 She went forth out of the place where she was, and her two
daughters-in-law with her; and they went on the way to return
to the land of Judah.
001:008 Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, Go, return each
of you to her mother's house: Yahweh deal kindly with you,
as you have dealt with the dead, and with me.
001:009 Yahweh grant you that you may find rest, each of you in the house
of her husband. Then she kissed them, and they lifted up
their voice, and wept.
001:010 They said to her, No, but we will return with you to your people.
001:011 Naomi said, Turn again, my daughters: why will you go with me?
have I yet sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands?
001:012 Turn again, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have
a husband. If I should say, I have hope, if I should even
have a husband tonight, and should also bear sons;
001:013 would you therefore wait until they were grown? would you
therefore stay from having husbands? nay, my daughters,
for it grieves me much for your sakes, for the hand of Yahweh
is gone forth against me.
001:014 They lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpah kissed
her mother-in-law, but Ruth joined with her.
001:015 She said, Behold, your sister-in-law is gone back to her people,
and to her god: return you after your sister-in-law.
001:016 Ruth said, "Don't entreat me to leave you, and to return
from following after you, for where you go, I will go;
and where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people,
and your God my God;
001:017 where you die, will I die, and there will I be buried:
Yahweh do so to me, and more also, if anything but death part
you and me."
001:018 When she saw that she was steadfastly minded to go with her,
she left off speaking to her.
001:019 So they two went until they came to Bethlehem. It happened,
when they were come to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved
about them, and [the women] said, Is this Naomi?
001:020 She said to them, "Don't call me Naomi, call me Mara;
for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.
001:021 I went out full, and Yahweh has brought me home again empty;
why do you call me Naomi, seeing Yahweh has testified against me,
and the Almighty has afflicted me?"
001:022 So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law,
with her, who returned out of the country of Moab:
and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest.
002:001 Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth,
of the family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz.
002:002 Ruth the Moabitess 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. She said to her, Go, my daughter.
002:003 She went, and came and gleaned in the field after the reapers:
and she happened to come to the portion of the field belonging
to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.
002:004 Behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said to the reapers,
Yahweh be with you. They answered him, Yahweh bless you.
002:005 Then said Boaz to his servant who was set over the reapers,
Whose young lady is this?
002:006 The servant who was set over the reapers answered, It is the Moabite
lady who came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab:
002:007 She said, Please let me glean and gather after the reapers
among the sheaves. So she came, and has continued even
from the morning until now, except that she stayed a little
in the house.
002:008 Then said Boaz to Ruth, Don't you hear, my daughter?
Don't go to glean in another field, neither pass from hence,
but abide here fast by my maidens.
002:009 Let your eyes be on the field that they reap, and go after them:
haven't I charged the young men that they shall not touch
you? and when you are thirsty, go to the vessels, and drink
of that which the young men have drawn.
002:010 Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground,
and said to him, Why have I found favor in your sight,
that you should take knowledge of me, seeing I am a foreigner?
002:011 Boaz answered her, It has fully been shown me, all that you
have done to your mother-in-law since the death of your husband;
and how you have left your father and your mother,
and the land of your birth, and have come to a people that you
didn't know before.
002:012 Yahweh recompense your work, and a full reward be given you
of Yahweh, the God of Israel, under whose wings you are come
to take refuge.
002:013 Then she said, Let me find favor in your sight, my lord,
because you have comforted me, and because you have spoken kindly
to your handmaid, though I am not as one of your handmaidens.
002:014 At meal time Boaz said to her, Come here, and eat of the bread,
and dip your morsel in the vinegar. She sat beside the reapers,
and they reached her parched grain, and she ate, and was sufficed,
and left of it.
002:015 When she was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his
young men, saying, Let her glean even among the sheaves,
and don't reproach her.
002:016 Also pull out some for her from the bundles, and leave it,
and let her glean, and don't rebuke her.
002:017 So she gleaned in the field until even; and she beat out that
which she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley.
002:018 She took it up, and went into the city; and her mother-in-law
saw what she had gleaned: and she brought forth and gave
to her that which she had left after she was sufficed.
002:019 Her mother-in-law said to her, Where have you gleaned today? and
where have you worked? blessed be he who did take knowledge of you.
She shown her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, and said,
The man's name with whom I worked today is Boaz.
002:020 Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, Blessed be he of Yahweh,
who has not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead.
Naomi said to her, The man is a close relative to us,
one of our near kinsmen.
002:021 Ruth the Moabitess said, Yes, he said to me, You shall keep
fast by my young men, until they have ended all my harvest.
002:022 Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, It is good, my daughter,
that you go out with his maidens, and that they not meet you
in any other field.
002:023 So she kept fast by the maidens of Boaz, to glean to the end
of barley harvest and of wheat harvest; and she lived
with her mother-in-law.
003:001 Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, My daughter, shall I
not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you?
003:002 Now isn't Boaz our kinsman, with whose maidens you were?
Behold, he winnows barley tonight in the threshing floor.
003:003 Wash yourself therefore, and anoint you, and put your clothing
on you, and get you down to the threshing floor, but don't
make yourself known to the man, until he shall have done
eating and drinking.
003:004 It shall be, when he lies down, that you shall mark the place
where he shall lie, and you shall go in, and uncover his feet,
and lay you down; and he will tell you what you shall do.
003:005 She said to her, All that you say I will do.
003:006 She went down to the threshing floor, and did according to all
that her mother-in-law told her.
003:007 When Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was merry,
he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain:
and she came softly, and uncovered his feet, and laid her down.
003:008 It happened at midnight, that the man was afraid, and turned himself;
and behold, a woman lay at his feet.
003:009 He said, Who are you? She answered, I am Ruth your handmaid:
spread therefore your skirt over your handmaid; for you are
a near kinsman.
003:010 He said, Blessed are you by Yahweh, my daughter:
you have shown more kindness in the latter end than at
the beginning, inasmuch as you didn't follow young men,
whether poor or rich.
003:011 Now, my daughter, don't be afraid; I will do to you all that
you say; for all the city of my people does know that you
are a worthy woman.
003:012 Now it is true that I am a near kinsman; however there is
a kinsman nearer than I.
003:013 Stay this night, and it shall be in the morning, that if he will
perform to you the part of a kinsman, well; let him do the
kinsman's part: but if he will not do the part of a kinsman to you,
then will I do the part of a kinsman to you, as Yahweh lives:
lie down until the morning.
003:014 She lay at his feet until the morning. She rose up before
one could discern another. For he said, Let it not be known
that the woman came to the threshing floor.
003:015 He said, Bring the mantle that is on you, and hold it;
and she held it; and he measured six [measures] of barley,
and laid it on her: and he went into the city.
003:016 When she came to her mother-in-law, she said, Who are you,
my daughter? She told her all that the man had done to her.
003:017 She said, These six [measures] of barley gave he me; for he said,
"Don't go empty to your mother-in-law."
003:018 Then said she, "Sit still, my daughter, until you know how
the matter will fall; for the man will not rest, until he has
finished the thing this day."
004:001 Now Boaz went up to the gate, and sat him down there:
and behold, the near kinsman of whom Boaz spoke came by;
to whom he said, Ho, such a one! turn aside, sit down here.
He turned aside, and sat down.
004:002 He took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit you
down here. They sat down.
004:003 He said to the near kinsman, Naomi, who has come back out
of the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of land,
which was our brother Elimelech's:
004:004 I thought to disclose it to you, saying, Buy it before
those who sit here, and before the elders of my people.
If you will redeem it, redeem it: but if you will not
redeem it, then tell me, that I may know; for there
is none to redeem it besides you; and I am after you.
He said, I will redeem it.
004:005 Then said Boaz, What day you buy the field of the hand of Naomi,
you must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead,
to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance.
004:006 The near kinsman said, I can't redeem it for myself, lest I
mar my own inheritance: take my right of redemption on you;
for I can't redeem it.
004:007 Now this was [the custom] in former time in Israel concerning
redeeming and concerning exchanging, to confirm all things:
a man drew off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbor;
and this was the [manner of] attestation in Israel.
004:008 So the near kinsman said to Boaz, Buy it for yourself.
He drew off his shoe.
004:009 Boaz said to the elders, and to all the people, You are witnesses
this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech's,
and all that was Chilion's and Mahlon's, of the hand of Naomi.
004:010 Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I
purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead
on his inheritance, that the name of the dead not be cut off
from among his brothers, and from the gate of his place:
you are witnesses this day.
004:011 All the people who were in the gate, and the elders, said, We
are witnesses. Yahweh make the woman who has come into your house
like Rachel and like Leah, which two built the house of Israel:
and do you worthily in Ephrathah, and be famous in Bethlehem:
004:012 and let your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar
bore to Judah, of the seed which Yahweh shall give you
of this young woman.
004:013 So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife; and he went in to her,
and Yahweh gave her conception, and she bore a son.
004:014 The women said to Naomi, Blessed be Yahweh, who has not left
you this day without a near kinsman; and let his name be
famous in Israel.
004:015 He shall be to you a restorer of life, and sustain you
in your old age, for your daughter-in-law, who loves you,
who is better to you than seven sons, has borne him.
004:016 Naomi took the child, and laid it in her bosom, and became
nurse to it.
004:017 The women her neighbors gave it a name, saying, There is a son
born to Naomi; and they named him Obed: he is the father
of Jesse, the father of David.
004:018 Now this is the history of the generations of Perez: Perez became
the father of Hezron,
004:019 and Hezron became the father of Ram, and Ram became
the father of Amminadab,
004:020 and Amminadab became the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon became
the father of Salmon,
004:021 and Salmon became the father of Boaz, and Boaz became
the father of Obed,
004:022 and Obed became the father of Jesse, and Jesse became
the father of David.
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