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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>Ruth 2 CEV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/ruth/2.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/ruth/2-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">CEV</a> > Ruth 2</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../ruth/1.htm" title="Ruth 1">◄</a> Ruth 2 <a href="../ruth/3.htm" title="Ruth 3">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Contemporary English Version</div><div class="chap"><h3 class="s1">Ruth Meets Boaz</h3><p class="par"><span class="v8_2_1"><span class="reftext" id="Ruth.2.1-Ruth.2.3" class="v8_2_1">1-3</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Ruth.2.1-Ruth.2.3!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> One day, Ruth said to Naomi, “Let me see if I can find someone who will let me pick up the grain left in the fields by the harvest workers.”<a href="#fn" id="link_Ruth.2.1-Ruth.2.3!f.2" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> </span></p><p class="par"><span class="v8_2_1">Naomi answered, “Go ahead, my daughter.” So immediately Ruth went out to pick up grain in a field. She didn't know it was owned by Boaz, a relative of Naomi's husband Elimelech, as well as a rich and important man.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v8_2_4"><span class="reftext" id="Ruth.2.4" class="v8_2_4">4</span>When Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and went out to his field, he said to the harvest workers, “The <span class="nd">Lord</span> bless you!”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v8_2_4">They replied, “And may the <span class="nd">Lord</span> bless you!”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v8_2_5"><span class="reftext" id="Ruth.2.5" class="v8_2_5">5</span>Then Boaz asked the man in charge of the harvest workers, “Who is that young woman?”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v8_2_6"><span class="reftext" id="Ruth.2.6" class="v8_2_6">6</span>The man answered, “She is the one who came back from Moab with Naomi. </span><span class="v8_2_7"><span class="reftext" id="Ruth.2.7" class="v8_2_7">7</span>She asked if she could pick up grain left by the harvest workers, and she has been working all morning without a moment's rest.”<a href="#fn" id="link_Ruth.2.7!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> </span></p><p class="par"><span class="v8_2_8"><span class="reftext" id="Ruth.2.8" class="v8_2_8">8</span>Boaz went over to Ruth and said, “I think it would be best for you not to pick up grain in anyone else's field. Stay here with the women </span><span class="v8_2_9"><span class="reftext" id="Ruth.2.9" class="v8_2_9">9</span>and follow along behind them, as they gather up what the men have cut. I have warned the men not to bother you, and whenever you are thirsty, you can drink from their water jars.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v8_2_10"><span class="reftext" id="Ruth.2.10" class="v8_2_10">10</span>Ruth bowed down to the ground and said, “You know I come from another country. Why are you so good to me?”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v8_2_11"><span class="reftext" id="Ruth.2.11" class="v8_2_11">11</span>Boaz answered, “I've heard how you've helped your mother-in-law ever since your husband died. You even left your own father and mother to come and live in a foreign land among people you don't know. </span><span class="v8_2_12"><span class="reftext" id="Ruth.2.12" class="v8_2_12">12</span>I pray that the <span class="nd">Lord</span> God of Israel will reward you for what you have done. And now that you have come to him for protection, I pray that he will bless you.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v8_2_13"><span class="reftext" id="Ruth.2.13" class="v8_2_13">13</span>Ruth replied, “Sir, it's good of you to speak kindly to me and make me feel so welcome. I'm not even one of your servants.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v8_2_14"><span class="reftext" id="Ruth.2.14" class="v8_2_14">14</span>At mealtime Boaz said to Ruth, “Come, eat with us. Have some bread and dip it in the sauce.” At once she sat down with the workers, and Boaz handed her some roasted grain. Ruth ate all she wanted and had some left over.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v8_2_15"><span class="reftext" id="Ruth.2.15" class="v8_2_15">15</span>When Ruth left to start picking up grain, Boaz told his men, “Don't stop her, even if she picks up grain from where it is stacked. </span><span class="v8_2_16"><span class="reftext" id="Ruth.2.16" class="v8_2_16">16</span>Be sure to pull out some stalks of grain from the bundles and leave them on the ground for her. And don't speak harshly to her!”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v8_2_17"><span class="reftext" id="Ruth.2.17" class="v8_2_17">17</span>Ruth worked in the field until evening. Then after she had pounded the grain off the stalks, she had a large basket full of grain. </span><span class="v8_2_18"><span class="reftext" id="Ruth.2.18" class="v8_2_18">18</span>She took the grain to town and showed Naomi how much she had picked up. Ruth also gave her the food left over from her lunch.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v8_2_19"><span class="reftext" id="Ruth.2.19" class="v8_2_19">19</span>Naomi said, “Where did you work today? Whose field was it? God bless the man who treated you so well!” Then Ruth told her that she had worked in the field of a man named Boaz.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v8_2_20"><span class="reftext" id="Ruth.2.20" class="v8_2_20">20</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Ruth.2.20!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> “The <span class="nd">Lord</span> bless Boaz!” Naomi replied. “He<a href="#fn" id="link_Ruth.2.20!f.2" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> has shown that he is still loyal to the living and to the dead. Boaz is a close relative, one of those who is supposed to look after us.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v8_2_21"><span class="reftext" id="Ruth.2.21" class="v8_2_21">21</span>Ruth told her, “Boaz even said I could stay in the field with his workers until they had finished harvesting all his grain.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v8_2_22"><span class="reftext" id="Ruth.2.22" class="v8_2_22">22</span>Naomi replied, “My daughter, it's good that you can pick up grain alongside the women who work in his field. Who knows what might happen to you in someone else's field!” </span><span class="v8_2_23"><span class="reftext" id="Ruth.2.23" class="v8_2_23">23</span>And so, Ruth stayed close to the women, while picking up grain in his field.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v8_2_23">Ruth worked in the fields until the barley and wheat were harvested. And all this time she lived with Naomi.</span></p> <a name="fn"></a><br /><br /><br /><b>Footnotes:<br /><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">2.1-3 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">grain left … workers: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">It was the custom at harvest time to leave some grain in the field for the poor to pick up (see Leviticus 19.10; 23.22).</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">2.7 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">she has … rest: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">2.20 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">He: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Or “The <char style="nd">Lord</char>.”</char></note></div></div><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div align="center"><p><span style="font-size:11pt;">Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt;">© 2006 American Bible Society. 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