Ruth 2 – NIV & OL

New International Version

Ruth 2:1-23

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.

O Livro

Rute 2:1-23

Rute no campo de Boaz

1Noemi tinha em Belém um parente de Elimeleque, seu marido; era um homem muito rico chamado Boaz.

2Em certa ocasião, Rute disse a Noemi: “Olha, vou sair pelos campos para ver se apanho as espigas que vão caindo atrás daquele que for amável comigo.” Ela respondeu-lhe: “Pois sim, minha filha, vai lá então!”

3E ela foi e aconteceu que o campo para onde foi era precisamente do tal Boaz que era da família de Elimeleque.

4Boaz apareceu por lá, vindo da cidade, enquanto Rute ali estava e saudou os ceifeiros: “O Senhor esteja convosco!” E eles responderam: “O Senhor te abençoe!” 5A seguir, perguntou ao capataz: “Escuta, de quem é aquela rapariga que ali está?”

6“É a moabita que veio com Noemi. 7Pediu-me esta manhã se podia apanhar as espigas que os ceifeiros deixavam caídas e tem estado sempre aqui, exceto quando foi descansar um pouco à sombra.”

8Boaz foi ter com ela para lhe falar: “Minha filha, fica aqui connosco neste campo a apanhar espigas. Não precisas de ir a outros campos. Junta-te às moças que aí estão a trabalhar. 9Já avisei os rapazes para não te incomodarem; quando tiveres sede vai beber à tua vontade.”

10Ela agradeceu-lhe muito: “Não há razão para seres assim tão amável comigo. Eu 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 viver entre estranhos. 12Que o Senhor, Deus de Israel, sob cujas asas vieste refugiar-te, te abençoe por tudo.”

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

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

15Quando a jovem voltou ao trabalho, Boaz disse ao capataz que a deixasse apanhar mesmo entre os feixes sem lhe dizer nada; 16e que fizessem de propósito deixar cair espigas, sem que ela se sentisse incomodada por as apanhar.

17Assim, ficou ali o dia todo. Ao fim da tarde, quando foi juntar o que debulhara, contou uns 22 litros! 18Trouxe o grão para a povoação e entregou-o à sogra, e também o que lhe sobejara do almoço.

19“Mas tanto!”, exclamou Noemi. “Onde é que andaste hoje a apanhar? Que Deus abençoe quem foi tão generoso 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 ser bondoso para com os vivos, tanto quanto para com os que já morreram!”, exclamou Noemi comovida. “Porque esse homem é um dos nossos parentes mais chegados!”

21“Ele disse-me para lá ficar a apanhar espigas, atrás dos ceifeiros, até que todo o campo estivesse ceifado.”

22“Isso é maravilhoso! Ouve bem: faz conforme ele te disse. Fica lá com as outras moças até ao fim da ceifa. Ali estarás mais segura do que em qualquer outro campo!”

23Rute assim fez, indo lá apanhar espigas até ao fim das ceifas, tanto da cevada como do trigo. E ficou a viver com a sogra.