Ruth Meets Boaz in the Grain Field
1Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side, a man of standing from the clan of Elimelek, whose name was Boaz.
2And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the fields and pick up the 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. As it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek.
4Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, “The Lord be with you!”
“The Lord bless you!” they answered.
5Boaz asked the overseer of his harvesters, “Who does that young woman belong to?”
6The overseer replied, “She is the Moabite who came back from Moab with Naomi. 7She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.’ She came into the field and has remained here from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter.”
8So Boaz said to Ruth, “My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another field and don’t go away from here. Stay here with the women who work for me. 9Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the women. I have told the men not to lay a hand on you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.”
10At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She asked him, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?”
11Boaz replied, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. 12May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”
13“May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord,” she said. “You have put me at ease by speaking kindly to your servant—though I do not have the standing of one of your servants.”
14At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar.”
When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over. 15As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, “Let her gather among the sheaves and don’t reprimand her. 16Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don’t rebuke her.”
17So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah.2:17 That is, probably about 30 pounds or about 13 kilograms 18She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over after she had eaten enough.
19Her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!”
Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. “The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz,” she said.
20“The Lord bless him!” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. “He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.” She added, “That man is our close relative; he is one of our guardian-redeemers.2:20 The Hebrew word for guardian-redeemer is a legal term for one who has the obligation to redeem a relative in serious difficulty (see Lev. 25:25-55).”
21Then Ruth the Moabite said, “He even said to me, ‘Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain.’ ”
22Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with the women who work for him, because in someone else’s field you might be harmed.”
23So Ruth stayed close to the women of Boaz to glean until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.
Rut Di Boas Afuo Mu Mpɛpɛ
1Ɔbarima ɔdefoɔ a na ɔyɛ okunini bi tenaa Betlehem a na wɔfrɛ no Boas. Na ɔyɛ Naomi kunu Elimelek busuani.
2Ɛda koro bi, Rut, Moabni, ka kyerɛɛ Naomi sɛ, “Ma menkɔ afuo mu na menkɔboaboa atokoɔ nkaseɛ na menni obi a ɔbɛma me adi nʼakyi.”
Na Naomi kaa sɛ, “Ɛyɛ, me babaa, kɔ.” 3Enti, Rut kɔ kɔdii atwafoɔ no akyi. Na sɛdeɛ ɛbaeɛ ne sɛ, ɔhunuu sɛ ɔreyɛ adwuma wɔ Boas a ɔyɛ nʼase Elimelek busuani no afuo mu.
4Ɛberɛ a ɔwɔ hɔ no, Boas firi Betlehem baeɛ. Ɔkyeaa atwafoɔ no sɛ, “Awurade ne mo ntena!” Atwafoɔ no gyee so sɛ,
“Awurade nhyira wo.”
5Ɛnna Boas bisaa ne sohwɛfoɔ sɛ, “Ababaawa bɛn na ɔwɔ nohoa hɔ no?”
6Sohwɛfoɔ no buaa sɛ, “Ɔyɛ ababaawa bi a ɔfiri Moab a ɔne Naomi baeɛ. 7Anɔpa yi ara na ɔbisaa me sɛ, ɔbɛtumi aboaboa atokoɔ ano adi atwafoɔ no akyi anaa. Ɔyɛ nsiyɛfoɔ a ɛberɛ kakra bi na ɔde homee wɔ pata no ase hɔ.”
8Boas kɔɔ hɔ kɔka kyerɛɛ Rut sɛ, “Me babaa tie. Wo ne yɛn ntena ha ara na boaboa atokoɔ; mma nkɔ afuo foforɔ biara mu. Di mmaa a wɔreyɛ adwuma wɔ mʼafuo yi mu no akyi pɛɛ. 9Hwɛ faako a wɔretwa wɔ afuo no mu na di wɔn akyi. Mabɔ mmeranteɛ no kɔkɔ sɛ wɔnnha wo. Na sɛ sukɔm de wo a, nom nsuo a wɔakɔsa afiri abura no mu no bi.”
10Rut butuiɛ, de nʼanim kyerɛɛ fam daa no ase. Na ɔkaa sɛ, “Adɛn enti na manya saa adom yi wɔ wʼani so, me a meyɛ ɔnanani yi?”
11Boas buaa sɛ, “Deɛ woayɛ ama wʼase ɛfiri wo kunu wuo akyi no nyinaa, wɔaka akyerɛ me, sɛ wofirii wʼagya ne wo maame ne wo ɔman na wo ne nnipa a wonnim wɔn baabiara no bɛtenaeɛ no. 12Awurade, Israel Onyankopɔn a woanya dwanekɔbea wɔ ne ntaban ase no nnom wo.”
13Na ɔno nso kaa sɛ, “Ma menkɔ so nnya wʼanim adom daa, me wura. Woama me awerɛkyekyerɛ na woakasa akyerɛ wʼafenaa ayamyɛ so, me a mensɛ na memfata wo nnwumayɛfoɔ no mu baako mpo no.”
14Ɛduruu adidiberɛ no, Boas frɛɛ no sɛ, “Bra ma yɛnnidi. Wotumi de wo burodo no bɔ nsã biara a wopɛ mu.”
Enti, ɔne nʼayutwafoɔ no tenaa ase na Boas maa no aduane sene sɛdeɛ ɔbɛtumi adi mpo. 15Ɛberɛ a Rut sane kɔɔ nʼadwuma so bio no, Boas ka kyerɛɛ ne mmeranteɛ no sɛ, “Momma no mmoaboa atokoɔ no ano mfiri nʼafiafi no mu na monnsi no kwan. 16Na monyiyi afiafi no mu deɛ no bi nnyae mu ngu fam mma no na ɔnsesa, na monnha no.”
17Enti, Rut sesaa atokoɔ no wɔ hɔ da mu no nyinaa na ɔporoo atokoɔ no saa anwummerɛ no, ɔnyaa bɛyɛ lita aduonu mmienu. 18Ɔsoa de kɔɔ kurom, de kɔkyerɛɛ nʼase. Afei, Rut de nʼawiaduane a ɔgya sii ne hɔ no maa no.
19Naomi hunuiɛ no, ɔteaam sɛ, “Ɛdɔɔso yie! Na ɛhe na ɛnnɛ woboaboaa saa atokoɔ yi nyinaa ano firi? Ɛhe na wokɔyɛɛ adwuma? Awurade nhyira deɛ ɔboaa wo no!”
Rut kaa ɔbarima a ɔyɛɛ adwuma wɔ nʼafuom no ho asɛm kyerɛɛ nʼase no, ɔtoaa so kaa sɛ, “Deɛ meyɛɛ adwuma wɔ nʼafuom no, wɔfrɛ no Boas.”
20Naomi ka kyerɛɛ nʼase no sɛ, “Awurade nhyira no. Ɔrekyerɛ yɛn ne wo kunu a wawuo no nʼayamyɛ. Saa ɔbarima no yɛ abusuafoɔ a wɔbɛn yɛn pɛɛ no mu baako a ɔyɛ abusua no mu ɔgyefoɔ baako.”
21Rut kaa sɛ, “Deɛ ɛka ho bio ne sɛ, mpo, Boas ka kyerɛɛ me sɛ, mensane mmra na me ne nʼatwafoɔ no mmɛtena kɔsi ɛberɛ a wɔbɛwie otwa no.”
22Naomi teaam sɛ, “Anwanwasɛm nie! Yɛ deɛ ɔka no. Wo ne nʼadwumayɛfoɔ no ntena kɔsi sɛ wɔbɛwie otwa no. Wʼasom bɛdwo wo wɔ hɔ sen afuo biara mu.”
23Enti, Rut ne mmaa a wɔwɔ Boas afuom hɔ no yɛɛ adwuma. Ɔne wɔn boaboaa atokoɔ no ano kɔsii atokotwa no awieeɛ. Afei, ɔne wɔn twaa ayuo nso. Nanso, saa ɛberɛ no nyinaa na ɔne nʼase na ɛte.
