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.
Ruthu Akutana Na Boazi
12:1 Rut 2:3; 4:21; Mit 7:4; 1Sam 9:1; 1Fal 11:28; 1Nya 2:12; Mt 1:5; Lk 3:32Basi Naomi alikuwa na jamaa wa upande wa mume wake, kutoka ukoo wa Elimeleki, mtu maarufu ambaye aliitwa Boazi.
22:2 Rut 1:22; Law 19:9; 23:22; Mwa 6:8; 18:3; Kum 24:19Ruthu, Mmoabu, akamwambia Naomi, “Nitakwenda mashambani nikaokote mabaki ya nafaka nyuma ya yule nitakayepata kibali machoni pake.”
Naomi akamwambia, “Nenda, binti yangu.” 32:3 2Fal 4:18; Yer 9:22; Amo 9:13Basi akaenda, akaokota mabaki ya nafaka mashambani nyuma ya wavunaji. Ikatokea kwamba alijikuta anafanya kazi kwenye shamba lililokuwa mali ya Boazi, ambaye alitoka kwenye ukoo wa Elimeleki.
42:4 Lk 1:28; Mwa 28:3; 2The 3:16; 2Tim 4:22; Kol 4:6; Hes 6:24; Amu 6:12; Za 129:7-8Papo hapo Boazi akarudi kutoka Bethlehemu, akawasalimu wavunaji, akasema, “Bwana awe nanyi!”
Nao wakamjibu, “Bwana akubariki.”
5Boazi akamuuliza msimamizi wa wavunaji, “Je, yule mwanamwali ni wa nani?”
62:6 Rut 1:22Msimamizi akamjibu, “Ni yule Mmoabu aliyerudi kutoka nchi ya Moabu pamoja na Naomi. 72:7 Mwa 37:7; Law 19:9; 2Sam 4:5Yeye aliomba, ‘Tafadhali niruhusu niokote na kukusanya miongoni mwa miganda nyuma ya wavunaji.’ Naye ameshinda shambani tangu asubuhi pasipo kupumzika, isipokuwa kwa muda mfupi kivulini.”
8Kisha Boazi akamwambia Ruthu, “Binti yangu, nisikilize. Usiende kuokota mabaki ya mavuno katika shamba lingine, na usiondoke hapa. Kaa hapa na hawa watumishi wangu wa kike. 9Angalia shamba wanaume wanamovuna, ufuate nyuma yao. Nimewaamuru wanaume hawa wasikuguse. Wakati wowote ukiona kiu, nenda kwenye mitungi ukanywe maji waliyoyateka wanaume hawa.”
102:10 Mwa 19:1; 31:15; 1Sam 25:23; 20:41; Kum 15:3Kwa ajili ya hili, akasujudu mpaka nchi, akamwambia, “Jinsi gani nimepata kibali machoni pako, hata ukanijali mimi mgeni?”
112:11 Rut 1:5, 14, 16-17; Isa 55:5; Mit 31:31; Rut 1:14; Lk 5:11, 28; 14:33; 18:29, 30Boazi akamjibu, “Nimeambiwa yote uliyomtendea mama mkwe wako tangu mume wako alipofariki, na jinsi ulivyomwacha baba yako na mama yako na nchi yako ulimozaliwa, ukaja kuishi na watu ambao hukuwafahamu awali. 122:12 1Sam 24:19; 26:23-25; Za 17:8; 18:20; 36:7; 57:1; 61:4; 63:7; 91:4; 71:1; Mit 25:22; Yer 31:16; Yos 24:15Bwana na akulipe kwa yale uliyoyatenda. Ubarikiwe kwa wingi na Bwana, Mungu wa Israeli, ambaye umekimbilia mabawani mwake.”
132:13 Mwa 18:3; Flp 2:3; 1Sam 25:41Kisha Ruthu akasema, “Naomba niendelee kupata kibali machoni pako, bwana wangu. Kwa maana umenifariji na umezungumza kwa ukarimu na mjakazi wako, hata ingawa mimi si bora kama mmoja wa watumishi wako wa kike.”
142:14 Mwa 3:19; Law 23:14Wakati wa chakula, Boazi akamwambia Ruthu, “Karibia hapa. Kula mkate na uchovye ndani ya siki.”
Alipoketi pamoja na wavunaji, akampa nafaka zilizookwa. Akala kiasi alichotaka na kusaza. 152:15 Mwa 37:7; Law 19:9Alipoinuka ili kuokota mabaki ya nafaka, Boazi akawaagiza watu wake, “Hata kama atakusanya kati ya miganda, msimzuie. 162:16 Mwa 37:10Badala yake, toeni masuke katika miganda, mwachieni ayaokote, na msimkemee.”
172:17 Amu 6:11; Law 19:36Basi Ruthu akaokota masazo shambani hata jioni. Akatwanga ile shayiri aliyokusanya, ikajaa efa moja.2:17 Efa moja ni sawa na kilo 22. 18Akaibeba na kuelekea mjini, naye mama mkwe wake akaona jinsi alivyoweza kuokota nafaka nyingi. Pia Ruthu akachukua kile alichobakiza baada ya kula na kushiba, akampa.
19Basi mkwewe akamuuliza, “Je, umeokota wapi leo? Umefanya kazi wapi? Abarikiwe mtu yule aliyekujali.”
Ndipo Ruthu akamwambia mama mkwe wake juu ya yule ambaye yeye alikuwa amefanyia kazi katika shamba lake. Akasema, “Yule mtu niliyefanyia kazi kwake leo, anaitwa Boazi.”
202:20 Amu 17:2; 1Sam 23:21; Mwa 11:31; 19:19; 2Sam 2:5; Ay 29:13; 2Tim 1:16; Mit 17:17; Law 25:25; Rut 3:9; 4:1, 14Naye Naomi akamwambia mkwewe, “Bwana ambariki! Hakuacha kuonyesha fadhili zake kwa walio hai na kwa waliokufa.” Pia akamwambia, “Huyo mtu ni mmoja wa jamaa yetu wa karibu anayestahili kutukomboa.”
212:21 Rut 1:22Kisha Ruthu, Mmoabu, akasema, “Hata aliniambia, ‘Kaa pamoja na watumishi wangu mpaka watakapomaliza kuvuna nafaka yangu yote.’ ”
22Kisha Naomi akamwambia Ruthu mkwewe, “Binti yangu, itakuwa vyema wewe ufuatane na wasichana wake, kwa sababu katika shamba la mtu mwingine wanaweza kukudhuru.”
232:23 Kut 9:31; Mwa 30:14; 1Sam 6:13; Kum 16:9Kwa hivyo Ruthu akafuatana na watumishi wa kike wa Boazi, akaokota mpaka mwisho wa mavuno ya shayiri na ya ngano. Naye aliishi na mama mkwe wake.
