Ruth 2:1-3

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Ruth Meets Boaz

2 There was a rich man named Boaz living in Bethlehem. Boaz was one of Naomi’s close relatives^[a] from Elimelech’s family.

²One day Ruth, the Moabite, said to Naomi, “I think I will go to the fields. Maybe I can find someone who will be kind to me and let me gather the grain they leave in their field.”

Naomi said, “Fine, daughter, go ahead.”

³So Ruth went to the fields. She followed the workers who were cutting the grain and gathered the grain that was left.^[b] It happened that part of the field belonged to Boaz, the man from Elimelech’s family.

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Footnotes

Ruth 2:1 close relatives If a man died without children, one of his close relatives would take the dead man’s wife so that she could have children. He would care for this family, but this family and their property would not belong to him. They would all be in the dead man’s name.
Ruth 2:3 There was a law that a farmer must leave some grain in his field during harvest, so poor people and travelers could find something to eat. See Lev. 19:9; 23:22.