Ruth Meets Boaz at the Threshing Floor
Ruth 3One day, Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi said to her, “My daughter, shouldn’t I seek rest for you, where it will be well with you? Now Boaz, whose maidens you worked with, is our kinsman. Look, tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. So bathe, anoint yourself with perfume, and put on your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing floor, but don’t make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. When he lies down, take note of the place where he is lying. Then go in, uncover his feet, and lie down. Then he will tell you what to do.”
Ruth replied, “I will do everything you said.” So she went down to the threshing floor, and did everything that her mother-in-law told her. When Boaz had finished eating and drinking, and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the grain heap. She approached softly, uncovered his feet, and lay down. In the middle of the night, the man was startled. He turned, and there was a woman lying at his feet! He said, “Who are you?”
She answered, “I am Ruth, your servant. Spread the edge of your garment over your servant because you are a kindman-redeemer.”
He said, “May YHWH bless you, my daughter. You have shown more kindness in this than what you did earlier, because you didn’t go after the young men, whether poor or rich. Now, my daughter, don’t be afraid. I will do for you all that you ask, for everyone in the city knows that you are a worthy woman. Now, it is true that I am a kindman-redeemer. However, there is a relative closer than I. Stay here tonight. In the morning, if he will marry, good, let him marry you. But if he does not want to redeem you, then as YHWH lives-lives, I will do it. Lie here until the morning.”
So she lay at his feet until the morning, then she rose up before anyone could recognize another. For he said, “No one must know that a woman came to the threshing floor.” He said, “Bring the mantle you are wearing, and hold it out.” As she held it, he measured six measures of barley and laid it on her. Then he went into the city.
When Ruth came to her mother-in-law, Naomi said, “How did it go, my daughter?”
Then she told her everything the man had done for her. She said, “He gave me these six measures of barley, and he said, ‘Don’t go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’”
Then she said, “Sit here, my daughter, until you know what will happen. For the man will not rest until he has settled it today.”