1 Noemi tinha em Belém um parente do marido, um homem muito rico chamado Boaz.

2 Em certa ocasião Rute disse a Noemi: Olha, vou aí aos campos de algum homem rico a ver se apanho os grãos que vão caindo atrás dos ceifeiros.Pois sim, minha filha, vai lá então.

3 E ela foi. Aconteceu precisamente que o campo onde foi calhar era o do tal Boaz, o parente de Noemi por afinidade.

4 Boaz por sinal apareceu ali, vindo da cidade enquanto Rute lá estava. Depois de saudar os ceifeiros, disse para o capataz: Escuta, quem é aquela rapariga que ali está?

6 É a moabita que veio com Noemi. Pediu-me esta manhã se podia apanhar as espigas caídas atrás dos ceifeiros e cá tem estado sempre, excepto para descansar um pouco à sombra.

8 Boaz foi ter com ela para lhe falar: Minha filha, fica aqui neste campo connosco para apanhares as espigas. Não precisas de ir a outros campos. Junta-te às moças que aí estão a trabalhar. Já avisei os rapazes para não te incomodarem; quando tiveres sede vai beber à tua vontade.

10 Ela agradeceu-lhe muito: Não há razão para seres assim tão amável para comigo. Sabes bem que não passo duma estrangeira.

11 Sim, eu sei. Mas sei também de toda a afeição e carinho que tens mostrado para com a tua sogra, desde a morte do teu marido, e como preferiste deixar o teu pai e a tua mãe para vires viver entre estranhos.

12 Que o Senhor Deus de Israel, sob cujas asas vieste refugiar-te, te abençoe por isso tudo.

13 Agradeço-te muito. Foste muito bom para mim, não sendo eu sequer uma empregada tua!

14 À hora do almoço, Boaz chamou-a: Vem comer connosco. Rute veio sentar-se junto dos ceifeiros e ele serviu-a abundantemente, muito mais do que ela podia comer.

15 Quando a jovem voltou para o trabalho, Boaz disse para o capataz que a deixasse apanhar mesmo entre os feixes sem lhe dizer nada, e que fizesse mesmo de propósito para deixar cair espigas, sem que ela se sentisse incomodada em as apanhar.

17 E assim ficou ali o dia todo. Ao fim da tarde, quando foi juntar o que debulhara, contou uns trinta e cinco litros! Trouxe o grão para a povoação e entregou-o à sogra, mais o que lhe sobejara do almoço.

19 Mas tanto!, exclamou Noemi. Onde é que andaste tu hoje a apanhar? Que Deus abençoe quem foi tão bom para contigo.E Rute contou-lhe tudo o que se passara, dizendo que o dono do campo se chamava Boaz.

20 Que o Senhor seja louvado porque continua a abençoar-nos a nós,os vivos, tanto quanto aos que já morreram!, exclamou Noemi comovida. Porque esse homem é um dos nossos parentes mais chegados!

21 E ele disse-me mesmo para lá ficar, atrás dos ceifeiros, até que todo o campo estivesse ceifado.

22 Isso é maravilhoso! Ouve bem; faz tudo conforme ele te disse. Fica lá com as outras moças até ao fim da ceifa. Estarás lá muito mais segura do que em qualquer outro campo!

23 Rute assim fez, ficando lá apanhar espigas até ao fim das ceifas, tanto da cevada como do trigo.

1 Now, Naomi, had an acquaintance of her husbands, a man of great integrity, of the family of Elimelech,whose name, was Boaz.

2 And Ruth the Moabitess said unto NaomiLet me go, I pray thee, to the field, and glean ears of corn after him in whose eyes I may find favour. And she said to herGo, my daughter.

3 So she went her way, and came, and gleaned in the field, after the reapers,and it happened to her, to light upon the portion of field-land belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.

4 And lo! Boaz coming from Bethlehem, and he said to the reapers, Yahweh, be with you! and they said to him, Yahweh bless thee!

5 Then said Boaz to his young man, that was set over the reapers,Whose is this maiden?

6 And the young man that was set over the reapers answered and said,The Moabitish maiden, is she who came back with Naomi, out of the country of Moab;

7 and she saidLet me glean, I pray thee, and gather among the sheaves, after the reapers; so she came in, and hath continued from that time, all the morning until just now, and hath not rested in the house, for a little.

8 And Boaz said unto RuthHearest thou not, my daughter? Do not go to glean in any other field, neither indeed shalt thou pass on, from hence,but, here, shalt thou keep fast by my maidens:

9 thine eyes, be on the field which they shall reap, and go thou after them, Have I not commanded the young men, that they touch thee not? And, when thou art athirst, then go unto the vessels, and drink of what the young men shall draw.

10 Then she fell upon her face, and bowed herself to the ground,and said unto himWherefore have I found favour in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take notice of me, seeing that, I, am, a stranger?

11 And Boaz answered, and said to her, It hath been, told, meall that thou hast done unto thy mother-in-law, since the death of thy husband,and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and come unto a people whom thou knewest not, aforetime.

12 Yahweh recompense thy deed,and let thy reward be full from Yahweh, the God of Israel, unto whom thou hast come to take refuge under his wings.

13 And she saidLet me find favour in thine eyes, my lord, for that thou hast comforted me, and for that thou hast spoken unto the heart of thy handmaid,though, I, be not as, one of thine own handmaidens.

14 And Boaz said to her at mealtimeDraw nigh hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. So she sat beside the reapers, and there was reached to her parched corn, and she did eat and was satisfied, and left thereof remaining.

15 And, when she rose up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, sayingEven between the sheaves, let her glean, and reproach her not;

16 yea moreover, draw out, for her, from the bundles,and leave behind that she may glean it, and rebuke her not.

17 So she gleaned in the field, until the evening,and beat out that which she had gleaned, and there was about an ephah of barley.

18 And she took it up, and came into the city, and, when her mother-in-law had seen what she had gleaned, she brought forth and gave her what had been left remaining, after that she was satisfied.

19 And her mother-in-law said to herIn what place hast thou gleaned, today? and where hast thou wrought? May he that took notice of thee, be blessed! So she told her mother-in-law, with whom she had wrought, and saidThe name of the man with whom I wrought today, is Boaz.

20 Then said Naomi, to her daughter-in-lawBlessed, be he of Yahweh, who hath not left off his lovingkindness to the living, and to the dead. And Naomi said to herNear to us, is the man, of our own kinsmen, is he!

21 And Ruth the Moabitess said,Yea for he said unto meBy my young men, shalt thou keep fast, until they have ended all my harvest.

22 And Naomi said unto Ruth her daughter-in-law,Good, is it, my daughter, that thou go forth with his maidens, and that they meet thee not, in any other field.

23 So she kept fast by the maidens of Boaz, to glean, until the end of the barley harvest, and the wheat harvest,and dwelt with her mother-in-law.