Dual Panel1One day Naomi, Ruth's mother-in-law, said to her, “My daughter, I want to see you settled happily.
2Now there is our kinsman Boaz, whose girls you have been with.
3Tonight he will be winnowing barley at the threshing-floor. Bathe and anoint yourself with perfumed oil, then get dressed and go down to the threshing-floor; but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking.
4When he lies down make sure you know the place where he is. Then go in, turn back the covering at his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do.”
5“I will do everything you say,” replied Ruth.
6She went down to the threshing-floor and did exactly as her mother-in-law had told her.
7When Boaz had eaten and drunk, he felt at peace with the world and went and lay down to sleep at the far end of the heap of grain. Ruth came quietly, turned back the covering at his feet and lay down.
8About midnight the man woke with a start; he turned over, and there, lying at his feet, was a woman!
9“Who are you?” he said. “Sir, it is I, Ruth,” she replied. “Spread the skirt of your cloak over me, for you are my next-of-kin.”
10Boaz said, “The LORD bless you, my daughter! You are proving yourself more devoted to the family than ever by not running after any young man, whether rich or poor.
11Set your mind at rest, my daughter: I shall do all you ask, for the whole town knows what a fine woman you are.
12Yes, it is true that I am a near kinsman; but there is one even closer than I am.
13Stay tonight, and then in the morning, if he is willing to act as your next-of-kin, well and good; but if he is not, then as sure as the LORD lives, I shall do so. Now lie down till morning.”
14She lay at his feet till next morning, but rose before it was light enough for one man to recognize another; Boaz had it in mind that no one should know that the woman had been to the threshing-floor.
15He said to her, “Take the cloak you are wearing, and hold it out.” When she did so, he poured in six measures of barley and lifted it for her to carry, and she went off to the town.
16When she came to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked, “How did things go with you, my daughter?” Ruth related all that the man had done for her,
17and she added, “He gave me these six measures of barley; he would not let me come home to my mother-in-law empty-handed.”
18Naomi said, “Wait, my daughter, until you see what will come of it; he will not rest till he has settled the matter this very day.”