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Ruth 2

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Ruth gleans in the fields of Booz
1 Now her husband Elimelech had a kinsman, a powerful man, and very rich, whose name was Booz. 2 And Ruth the Moabitess said to her mother in law: If you desire, I will go into the field, and glean the ears of corn that escape the hands of the reapers, wheresoever I shall find grace with a householder that will be favourable to me. And she answered her: Go, my daughter. 3 She went therefore and gleaned the ears of corn after the reapers. And it happened that the owner of that field was Booz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech. 4 And behold, he came out of Bethlehem, and said to the reapers: The Lord be with you. And they answered him: The Lord bless you. 5 And Booz said to the young man that was set over the reapers: Whose maid is this? 6 And he answered him: This is the Moabitess who came with Noemi, from the land of Moab, 7 And she desired leave to glean the ears of corn that remain, following the steps of the reapers: and she has been in the field from morning till now, and has not gone home for one moment.


The meeting of Ruth and Booz
8 And Booz said to Ruth: Hear me, daughter, do not go to glean in any other field, and do not depart from this place: but keep with my maids, 9 And follow where they reap. For I have charged my young men, not to molest you: and if you are thirsty, go to the vessels, and drink of the waters where the servants drink. 10 She fell on her face and worshipping upon the ground, said to him: Why I should find grace before your eyes, and that you should vouchsafe to take notice of me a woman of another country? 11 And he answered her: All has been told me, that you have done for your mother in law after the death of your husband: and how you have left your parents, and the land where you were born, and have come to a people which you knew not before. 12 The Lord render unto your for your work, and may you receive a full reward of the Lord the God of Israel, to whom you have come, and under whose wings you have fled. 13 And she said: I have found grace in your eyes, my lord, who have comforted me and have spoken to the heart of your handmaid, who am not like to one of your maids. 14 And Booz said to her: At mealtime come here, and eat of the bread, and dip your morsel in the vinegar. So she sat at the side of the reapers, and she heaped to herself frumenty, and ate and was filled, and took the leavings. 15 And she arose from there, to glean the ears of corn as before. And Booz commanded his servants, saying: If she would even reap with you, hinder her not: 16 And let some of your handfuls of purpose fall, and leave them, that she may gather them without shame, and let no man rebuke her when she gathers them.


Ruth gleans with Booz's servants
17 She gleaned therefore in the field till evening: and beating out with a rod and threshing what she had gleaned, she found about the measure of an ephi of barley, that is, three bushels: 18 Which she took up and returned into the city, and showed it to her mother in law: moreover she brought out, and gave her of the remains of her meat, where she had been filled. 19 And her mother in law said to her: Where have you gleaned to day, and where have you wrought? blessed be he that has had pity on you. And she told her with whom she had wrought: and she told the man's name, that he was called Booz. 20 And Noemi answered her: Blessed be he of the Lord: because the same kindness which he showed to the living, he has kept also to the dead. And again she said: The man is our kinsman. 21 And Ruth said, He also charged me, that I should keep close to his reapers, till all the corn should be reaped. 22 And her mother in law said to her: It is better for you, my daughter, to go out to reap with his maids, lest in another man's field some one may resist you. 23 So she kept close to the maids of Booz: and continued to glean with them, till all the barley and the wheat were laid up in the barns.
 
Commentary for Ruth 2
 
2:1 Booz: There were three Boozes successively, of which the first was the uncle, the second the son, and the third the nephew. The first was the son of Salmon, whom he fathered with Rahab, and the third was he who fathered Obed with Ruth. And this is the same one referred to in Matthew 1 where these three are conflated under one name, because Matthew wished to describe the genealogy of the Savior in three lots of fourteen ancestors. (Nicholas of Lyra Com Ruth)

2:2 my daughter: Booz was already a man of advanced age. It is certainly clear that she was a young girl in comparison to 		him, because he called her daughter. (Nicholas of Lyra Com Ruth)

2:10 fell on her face: Her humilty and descretion can be observed in this. (Hugh of St. Cher Com Ruth)

2:12 The Lord render to you: The blessing followed as Booz said it would. For Ruth received the full reward from God, so that she was the ancestor of the blessing of the nations. (Theodoret of Cyrus Ques Ruth)



Ruth according to Josephus

It was now reaping time; and Ruth, by the leave of her mother-in-law, went out to glean, that they might get a stock of corn for their food. Now it happened that she came into Booz's field; and after some timr Booz came there, and when he saw the damsel, he inquired of his servant that was set over the reapers concerning the girl. The servant had a little before inquired about all her circumstances, and told them to his master, who kindly embraced her, both on account of her affection to her mother-in-law, and her remembrance of that son of hers to whom she had been married, and wished that she might experience a prosperous condition; so he desired her not to glean, but to reap what she was able, and gave her leave to carry it home. He also gave it in charge to that servant who was over the reapers, not to hinder her when she took it away, and bade him give her her dinner, and make her drink when he did the like to the reapers. Now what corn Ruth received of him she kept for her mother-in-law, and came to her in the evening, and brought the ears of corn with her; and Naomi had kept for her a part of such food as her neighbors had plentifully bestowed upon her. Ruth also told her mother-in-law what Booz had said to her; and when the other had informed her that he was near of kin to them, and perhaps was so pious a man as to make some provision for them, she went out again on the days following, to gather the gleanings with Booz's maidservants.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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