Kohelet (Ecc) 11

1 Send your resources out over the seas;

eventually you will reap a return.

2 Divide your merchandise into seven or eight shares,

since you don’t know what disasters may come on the earth.

3 If the clouds are full of rain,

they empty themselves on the earth.

Whether a tree falls toward the north or the south,

the place where the tree falls is where it stays.

4 He who keeps watching the wind will never sow;

he who keeps looking at the clouds will never reap.

5 Just as you don’t know the way of the wind

or how bones grow in a pregnant woman’s womb,

so you don’t know the work of God,

the maker of everything.

6 In the morning, sow your seed;

and don’t slack off until evening;

for you don’t know which sowing will succeed,

this, or that, or if both will do well.

7 Then the light will be sweet,

and it will be a pleasure to see the sun.

8 For if a person lives many years,

let him take joy in them all;

yet remembering that there will be many days of darkness,

that all to come is futile.

9 Young person, if you spend your youth only having fun,

if you use your early years just to entertain yourself,

if you follow your heart as you live your life,

and let your eyes be your guide;

understand that for all these things

God will bring you to judgment.

10 Therefore, remove anger from your heart;

and keep from harming your body;

for neither adolescence nor youth

has any lasting value.

Kohelet (Ecc) 12

1 So remember your creator while you are young,

before the evil days come,

and the years approach when you will say,

“They no longer give me pleasure”;

2 before the sun and the light grow dim,

also the moon and the stars;

before the clouds return after the rain;

3 on the day when the guards of the house are trembling,

and men of courage are bent over double;

when the women stop grinding grain,

because there are so few;

when the women at the windows

can no longer see out;

4 when the doors to the streets are kept shut;

when the noise from the grain-mill fades;

when a person is startled by the chirp of a bird,

yet their singing is hard to hear;

5 when they will be afraid to go up a hill,

and terrors will stalk the way,

even though the almond tree is in bloom;

when the locust can only drag itself along,

and the caper berry has no [aphrodisiac] effect —

because the person is headed for his eternal home,

and the mourners are already gathering

in the marketplace —

6 before the silver cord is snapped

the bowl of gold is cracked,

the pitcher is shattered at the spring,

the pulley is broken at the cistern,

7 the dust returns to earth, as it was,

and the spirit returns to God, who gave it!

8 Pointless! Meaningless! — says Kohelet,

Nothing matters at all!

9 Not only was Kohelet wise, he also taught the people what he knew; also he weighed, researched and corrected many ethical sayings.

10 Kohelet worked to develop an attractive writing style, in which he expressed the truth straightforwardly.

11 The sayings of the wise are as sharp as goads, and those given by leaders of assemblies are like well-fixed nails; [in this case,] they are presented by a single shepherd.

12 In addition, my son, take heed: one can write many books — there’s no end to it; and one can study so much that it wearies the flesh.

13 Here is the final conclusion, now that you have heard everything: fear God, and keep hismitzvot; this is what being human is all about.

14 For God will bring to judgment everything we do, including every secret, whether good or bad.

[Here is the final conclusion, now that you have heard everything: fear God, and keep hismitzvot; this is what being human is all about.]

Eikhah (Lam) 1

1 How lonely lies the city

that once thronged with people!

Once great among the nations,

now she is like a widow!

Once princess among provinces,

she has become a vassal.

2 Bitterly she weeps at night,

tears running down her cheeks.

Not one of all her lovers

is there to comfort her.

Her friends have all betrayed her;

they have become her enemies.

3 Y’hudah has fled into exile

from oppression and endless slavery.

She lives among the nations,

but there she finds no rest.

Her pursuers have all overtaken her

in the midst of her distress.

4 The roads to Tziyon are mourning

because no one comes to the festivals.

Her gateways are all deserted,

hercohanimare groaning,

her unmarried girls are grieving —

how bitter it is for her!

5 Her foes have become the head,

her enemies relax,

forAdonaihas made her suffer

because of her many sins.

Her young children have gone away

captive before the foe.

6 All splendor has departed

from the daughter of Tziyon.

Her princes have become like deer

unable to find pasture,

running on, exhausted,

fleeing from the hunter.

7 In the days of her affliction and anguish,

Yerushalayim remembers

all the treasures that were hers,

ever since ancient times.

Now her people fall into the power of the foe,

and she has no one to help her;

her enemies are gloating over her,

mocking her desolation.

8 Yerushalayim sinned grievously;

therefore she has become unclean.

All who honored her now despise her,

because they have seen her naked.

She herself also moans

and turns her face away.

9 Her filthiness was in her skirts;

she gave no thought to how it would end.

Hence her astounding downfall,

with no one to console her.

“Look,Adonai, how I suffer;

for the foe has triumphed!”

10 Enemies have reached out their hands

to seize all her treasures.

She has seenGoyimapproach

and go inside her sanctuary,

those whom you forbade even

to enter your assembly.

11 All her people are groaning,

as they search for something to eat.

They barter their treasures for food

to keep themselves alive.

“Look,Adonai! See

how despised I am.

12 “May it not happen to you,

all you passers-by!

Just look, and see if there is any pain

like the pain inflicted on me,

whichAdonaimade me suffer

on the day of his blazing anger.

13 “From on high, he sent down fire

deep into my bones;

he spread a net to catch my feet;

he turned me back;

he left me desolate,

in misery all day long.

14 “My sins have been bound into a yoke,

knit together by his hand.

It weighs down on my neck,

and it saps my strength.

Adonaihas put me into the power

of those I cannot withstand.

15 “All the strong men within my walls

Adonaihas rejected.

He has set a specific time

for crushing my young men.

Adonaihas trodden, like grapes in a winepress,

the virgin daughter of Y’hudah.

16 “Because of these things, I weep;

my eyes, my eyes stream with tears;

for anyone who could comfort me

and revive my courage is far away.

My children are in a state of shock,

because the enemy has prevailed.”

17 Tziyon spreads out her hands,

but no one is there to console her.

Concerning Ya‘akov,Adonaihas ordered

those around him to be his foes;

Yerushalayim has become for them

an unclean, filthy thing.

18 “Adonaiis in the right,

for I rebelled against his word.

Listen, please, all you peoples;

and see how I am in pain!

My young women and my young men

have gone into captivity.

19 “I called out to my lovers,

but they let me down.

Mycohanimand leaders

perished in the city,

as they were seeking food

to keep themselves alive.

20 “See,Adonai, how distressed I am!

Everything in me is churning!

My heart turns over inside me,

because I have been so rebellious.

Outside, the sword brings bereavement;

inside, it is like death.

21 “People have heard how I groan,

with no one to comfort me.

All my foes have heard of my trouble;

they are glad that you have done it.

Bring the day you have promised,

so that they will suffer like me!

22 “Let all their wickedness come before you.

Then do to them

as you have done to me

because of all my offenses.

For my groans are many,

and I am sick at heart.”

Eikhah (Lam) 2

1 How enveloped in darknessAdonai, in his anger,

has made the daughter of Tziyon!

He has thrown down from heaven to earth

the splendor of Isra’el,

forgotten his footstool [the sanctuary]

on the day of his anger.

2 Without pityAdonaiswallowed up

all the dwellings of Ya‘akov.

In his wrath he broke down the strongholds

of the daughter of Y’hudah,

brought them down to the ground,

thus profaning the kingdom and its rulers.

3 In his fierce anger he cut off

all the power of Isra’el,

withdrew his protecting right hand

at the approach of the enemy,

and blazed up in Ya‘akov like a flaming fire

devouring everything around it.

4 He bent his bow like an enemy,

with his right hand set like a foe.

He killed all who were pleasant to see.

In the tent of the daughter of Tziyon,

he poured out his fury like fire.

5 Adonaibecame like an enemy;

he swallowed up Isra’el,

swallowed up all its palaces,

and destroyed all its strongholds.

For the daughter of Y’hudah

he has multiplied mourning and moaning.

6 He wrecked his tabernacle as easily as a garden,

destroyed his place of assembly.

Adonaicaused Isra’el to forget

designated times andShabbats.

In the heat of his anger

he rejected both king andcohen.

7 Adonairejected his altar,

disowned his sanctuary,

and gave her palace walls

over to the power of the foe,

who raised such shouts in the house ofAdonai

that it sounded like a festival day.

8 Adonairesolved to destroy

the wall of the daughter of Tziyon.

He measured it with his line and did not stay his hand

until it was all in ruins.

He brought grief to rampart and wall;

together they lie dejected.

9 Her gates have sunk into the ground;

he destroyed and broke their bars.

Her king and rulers are among theGoyim,

there is no moreTorah,

and her prophets do not receive

visions fromAdonai.

10 The leaders of the daughter of Tziyon

sit on the ground in silence.

They throw dust on their heads;

they are wearing sackcloth.

The unmarried women of Yerushalayim

lower their heads to the ground.

11 My eyes are worn out from weeping,

everything in me is churning;

I am empty of emotion

because of the wounds to my people,

because children and infants are fainting away

in the streets of the city.

12 They keep asking their mothers,

“Where is something to eat or drink?”

as they faint away

in the streets of the city,

gasping out their last breath

in their mother’s bosom.

13 What can be said to you, what can be compared with you,

daughter of Yerushalayim?

What example can I give to comfort you,

virgin daughter of Tziyon?

For your downfall is as vast as the sea;

who can heal you?

14 The visions your prophets saw for you

were futile, just a whitewash.

They did not expose your guilt,

so as to reverse your fortunes —

no, the visions they saw for you

were alluring, but futile.

15 All who pass your way

clap their hands at you,

hissing and shaking their heads

at the daughter of Yerushalayim:

“This city was called ‘perfection in beauty’?

‘the joy of the whole earth’?”

16 All your adversaries

open their mouths to jeer at you.

They hiss, they grind their teeth;

they say, “We have swallowed her up!

This is the day we were waiting for,

and now we have lived to see it!”

17 Adonaihas done what he planned,

he has fulfilled his promise,

which he decreed in ancient times.

He has destroyed without pity,

he has let the enemy gloat over you

and filled your foes with pride.

18 Their hearts cried out toAdonai,

“Wall of the daughter of Tziyon!

Let your tears stream down

like a torrent, day and night!

Give yourself no respite,

give your eyes no rest!

19 “Get up! Cry out in the night,

at the beginning of every watch!

Pour your heart out like water

before the face ofAdonai!

Lift up your hands to him

for the lives of your babies,

who are fainting away from hunger

at every streetcorner.”

20 Adonai, look and see

who it is you have thus tormented!

Should women eat the fruit of their wombs,

the children they have held in their hands?

Shouldcohanimand prophets be slaughtered

in the sanctuary ofAdonai?

21 Youths and old men are lying

on the ground in the streets,

my unmarried women and young men

have fallen by the sword.

You killed them on the day of your anger,

you slaughtered them without pity.

22 You have summoned my terrors from every direction,

as on a festival day.

On the day ofAdonai’s anger,

not one escaped; not one survived —

the children I held in my arms and raised,

my enemy has destroyed.

Eikhah (Lam) 3

1 I am the man who has seen affliction

under the rod of his fury,

2 He has led me and made me walk

in darkness and not in light.

3 Against me alone he turns his hand

again and again, all day.

4 He has worn away my skin and flesh,

he has broken my bones.

5 He has besieged and surrounded me

with bitterness and hardship.

6 He has made me live in darkness,

like those who are long dead.

7 He has walled me in, so I can’t escape;

he has weighed me down with chains.

8 Even when I cry out, pleading for help,

he shuts out my prayer.

9 He has barred my way with blocks of stone,

he has made my paths crooked.

10 He lies in wait for me like a bear,

like a lion in hiding.

11 He has forced me aside and torn me to pieces,

leaving me stunned.

12 He has bent his bow and used me

as a target for his arrows.

13 He has pierced my vital organs

with shafts from his quiver.

14 I’m a laughingstock to all my people,

the butt of their taunts all day long.

15 He has filled me with bitterness,

sated me with wormwood.

16 He has broken my teeth with gravel

and pressed me down into ashes.

17 I have been so deprived of peace,

I have so forgotten what happiness is,

18 that I think, “My strength is gone,

and so is my hope inAdonai.”

19 Remember my utter misery,

the wormwood and the gall.

20 They are always on my mind;

this is why I am so depressed.

21 But in my mind I keep returning to something,

something that gives me hope —

22 that the grace ofAdonaiis not exhausted,

that his compassion has not ended.

23 [On the contrary,] they are new every morning!

How great your faithfulness!

24 “Adonaiis all I have,” I say;

“therefore I will put my hope in him.

25 Adonaiis good to those waiting for him,

to those who are seeking him out.

26 It is good to wait patiently

for the saving help ofAdonai.

27 It is good for a man

to bear the yoke from his youth.

28 Let him sit alone in silence

when he has laid it on him.

29 Let him submit absolutely;

there may yet be hope.

30 Let him offer his cheek to the one who strikes it,

and receive his fill of insults.

31 For rejection byAdonai

does not last forever.

32 He may cause grief, but he will take pity,

in keeping with the greatness of his grace.

33 For he does not arbitrarily torment

or punish human beings.

34 When anyone tramples underfoot

any of the prisoners of the land;

35 when anyone deprives a person of justice,

in defiance of the Most High;

36 when someone is cheated of justice in court —

doesAdonainot take note of such things?

37 Who can say something and have it happen

withoutAdonai’s commanding it?

38 Don’t both bad things and good proceed

from the mouth of the Most High?

39 Why should anyone alive complain,

even a strong man, about the punishment for his sins?

40 Let us examine and test our ways

and return toAdonai.

41 Let us lift up our hearts and our hands

to God in heaven and say,

42 “We, for our part, have transgressed and rebelled;

you, for your part, have not forgiven.

43 “You have covered us with anger,

pursued and slaughtered us without pity.

44 You have covered yourself with a cloud so thick

that no prayer can pass through.

45 You have reduced us

to rubbish and filth among the peoples.

46 “All our adversaries

open their mouths to jeer at us.

47 Panic and pitfall have come upon us,

desolation and destruction.

48 My eyes stream with rivers of water

over the destruction of the daughter of my people.”

49 My eyes weep ceaselessly;

there is no respite,

50 untilAdonailooks down

and sees from heaven.

51 My eyes make me so upset

at the fate of the women in my city.

52 Those who are my enemies for no reason

hunted me down like a bird.

53 They forced me alive into a pit

and threw stones on me.

54 Water rose above my head;

I thought, “I am finished!”

55 I called on your name,Adonai,

from the bottom of the pit.

56 You heard my voice; don’t close your ear

at my sighs, at my cries.

57 You came near when I called to you;

you said, “Don’t be afraid.”

58 Adonai, you defended my cause;

you redeemed my life.

59 Adonai, you see how I have been wronged;

give judgment in my favor!

60 You have seen all their vindictiveness

and all their plots against me.

61 You have heard their taunts,Adonai,

and all their plots against me,

62 the whispered murmurings of my foes

against me all day long.

63 See how, whether they sit or stand,

I am the butt of their taunts.

64 Repay them,Adonai,

as their deeds deserve.

65 Give them hardheartedness

as your curse on them.

66 Pursue them in anger!

Destroy them from under your heavens!

Eikhah (Lam) 4

1 How the gold has lost its luster!

How the fine gold has changed!

How the stones of the sanctuary

lie scattered at every streetcorner!

2 The precious sons of Tziyon,

as precious as fine gold —

to think they are now worth no more

than clay jars made by a potter!

3 Even jackals bare their breasts

in order to nurse their young,

but the daughters of my people have become as cruel

as ostriches in the desert.

4 The tongue of the baby at the breast

sticks to the roof of its mouth from thirst;

young children are begging for bread,

but no one is giving them any.

5 People who once ate only the best

lie dying in the streets;

those who were raised wearing purple

are clawing at piles of garbage.

6 For the offense of the daughter of my people

is greater than the sin of S’dom,

which was overthrown in an instant,

without a hand to help her.

7 Her princes were purer than snow;

they were whiter than milk,

their bodies more ruddy than pink pearls,

as beautiful as sapphires.

8 Now their faces are blacker than coal;

in the streets they go unrecognized.

Their skin has shriveled over their bones

and become as dry as a stick.

9 Those slain by the sword are better off

than those who are dying from hunger;

since these waste away as if pierced through,

for lack of food from the fields.

10 With their own hands compassionate women

have cooked their own children;

their children became their food

when the daughter of my people was destroyed.

11 Adonaihas finished with his fury,

he has poured out his blazing wrath;

he kindled a fire in Tziyon

that consumed its very foundations.

12 The kings of the earth could not believe,

neither could anyone living in the world,

that enemy or foe would ever enter

the gates of Yerushalayim.

13 It happened because of the sins of her prophets

and the offenses of hercohanim,

who, within her walls,

shed the blood of the righteous.

14 They wander in the streets like the blind;

they are so polluted with blood

that nobody is able

even to touch their clothing.

15 “Keep away! Unclean!” people shout at them,

“Keep away! Away! Don’t touch us!”

They flee, to wander here and there;

but no nation allows them to stay.

16 Adonaihimself scattered them;

he will no longer look after them;

they had no respect forcohanim

and showed no kindness to the leaders.

17 As for us, our eyes are worn out

from looking in vain for help;

we kept on watching and watching

for a nation that couldn’t save us.

18 They keep dogging our steps,

so that we can’t go out in our streets.

Our end is near, our time is up;

yes, our end has come.

19 Those who pursued us were swifter

than eagles in the sky.

They chased us over the mountains

and waylaid us in the desert.

20 Adonai’s anointed, our life-breath,

was caught in their pits;

though of him we had said, “Under his protection,

we can live among the nations.”

21 Rejoice, be glad, daughter of Edom,

who lives in the land of ‘Utz.

To you too the cup will pass;

you will get drunk and strip yourself naked!

22 Your offenses, daughter of Tziyon, are atoned for;

he will keep you in exile no longer.

Your offenses, daughter of Edom, he will punish;

he will expose your sins.

Eikhah (Lam) 5

1 Remember,Adonai, what has happened to us;

look, and see our disgrace.

2 The land we possessed has been passed on to strangers,

our homes to foreigners.

3 We have become fatherless orphans,

our mothers now are widows.

4 We have to pay to drink our own water;

we have to buy our own wood.

5 The yoke is on our necks; we are persecuted;

we toil to exhaustion but are given no rest.

6 We made pacts with Egypt and Ashur

to get enough food.

7 Our ancestors sinned and no longer exist;

we bear the weight of their guilt.

8 We are ruled by slaves,

and there is no one to save us from their power.

9 We get our food at the peril of our lives

because of the sword in the desert.

10 Our skins are as black as a furnace

because of the searing blasts of famine.

11 They have raped the women of Tziyon,

virgins in the cities of Y’hudah.

12 Princes are hung up by their hands,

leaders receive no respect.

13 Young men are compelled to grind at the mill,

boys stagger under loads of wood.

14 The old men have deserted the city gate,

the young men have given up their music.

15 Joy has vanished from our hearts,

our dancing has turned into mourning.

16 The crown has fallen from our heads.

Woe to us! for we have sinned.

17 This is why our hearts are sick;

this is why our eyes grow dim —

18 it’s because of Mount Tziyon, so wasted

that jackals have overrun it.

19 You,Adonai, reign forever;

your throne endures through all generations.

20 Why do you never remember us?

Why abandon us for so long a time?

21 Adonai, turn us back to you; and we will come back;

renew our days, as they were in the past —

22 unless you have totally rejected us

in a fury that knows no limits.

[Adonai, turn us back to you; and we will come back;

renew our days, as they were in the past.]

Rut (Rut) 1

1 Back in the days when the judges were judging, at a time when there was a famine in the land, a certain man from Beit-Lechem went to live in the territory of Mo’av — he, his wife and his two sons.

2 The man’s name was Elimelekh, his wife’s name was Na‘omi, and his two sons were named Machlon and Kilyon; they were Efratim from Beit-Lechem in Y’hudah. They arrived in the plain of Mo’av and settled there.

3 Elimelekh, Na‘omi’s husband, died; and she was left, she and her two sons.

4 They took wives for themselves from the women of Mo’av; the name of the one was ‘Orpah; and the name of the other was Rut. They lived there for about ten years.

5 Then Machlon and Kilyon died, both of them; and the woman was left with neither her two sons nor her husband.

6 So she prepared to return with her daughters-in-law from the plain of Mo’av; for in the plain of Mo’av she had heard howAdonaihad paid attention to his people by giving them food.

7 She left the place where she was with her two daughters-in-law and took the road leading back to Y’hudah.

8 Na‘omi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Each of you, go back to your mother’s house. MayAdonaishow grace to you, as you did to those who died and to me.

9 MayAdonaigrant you security in the home of a new husband.” Then she kissed them, but they began weeping aloud.

10 They said to her, “No; we want to return with you to your people.”

11 Na‘omi said, “Go back, my daughters. Why do you want to go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb who could become your husbands?

12 Go back, my daughters; go your way; for I’m too old to have a husband. Even if I were to say, ‘I still have hope’; even if I had a husband tonight and bore sons;

13 would you wait for them until they grew up? Would you refuse to marry, just for them? No, my daughters. On your behalf I feel very bitter that the hand ofAdonaihas gone out against me.”

14 Again they wept aloud. Then ‘Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye. But Rut stuck with her.

15 She said, “Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her god; go back, after your sister-in-law.”

16 But Rut said,

“Don’t press me to leave you

and stop following you;

for wherever you go, I will go;

and wherever you stay, I will stay.

Your people will be my people

and your God will be my God.

17 Where you die, I will die;

and there I will be buried.

MayAdonaibring terrible curses on me,

and worse ones as well,

if anything but death

separates you and me.”

18 When Na‘omi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more to her.

19 So the two of them went on until they came to Beit-Lechem. When they arrived in Beit-Lechem, the whole city was stirred with excitement over them. The women asked, “Can this be Na‘omi?”

20 “Don’t call me Na‘omi [pleasant],” she answered them; “call me Marah [bitter], becauseShaddaihas made my life very bitter.

21 I went out full, andAdonaihas brought me back empty. Why call me Na‘omi?Adonaihas testified against me,Shaddaihas afflicted me.”

22 This is how Na‘omi returned, with Rut the woman from Mo’av, her daughter-in-law, accompanying her from the plain of Mo’av. They arrived in Beit-Lechem at the beginning of the barley harvest.

Rut (Rut) 2

1 Na‘omi had a relative on her husband’s side, a prominent and wealthy member of Elimelekh’s clan, whose name was Bo‘az.

2 Rut the woman from Mo’av said to Na‘omi, “Let me go into the field and glean ears of grain behind anyone who will allow me to.” She answered her, “Go, my daughter.”

3 So she set out, arrived at the field and gleaned behind the reapers.

She happened to be in the part of the field that belonged to Bo‘az from Elimelekh’s clan,

4 when Bo‘az arrived from Beit-Lechem. He said to the reapers, “Adonaibe with you”; and they answered him, “Adonaibless you.”

5 Then Bo‘az asked his servant supervising the reapers, “Whose girl is this?”

6 The servant supervising the reapers answered, “She’s a girl from Mo’av who returned with Na‘omi from the plain of Mo’av.

7 She said, ‘Please, let me glean and gather what falls from the sheaves behind the reapers.’ So she went and has kept at it from morning until now, except for a little rest in the shelter.”

8 Bo‘az said to Rut, “Did you hear that, my daughter? Don’t go to glean in another field, don’t leave this place, but stick here with my working girls.

9 Keep your eyes on whichever field the reapers are working in, and follow the girls. I’ve ordered the young men not to bother you. Whenever you get thirsty, go and drink from the water jars the young men have filled.”

10 She fell on her face, prostrating herself, and said to him, “Why are you showing me such favor? Why are you paying attention to me? After all, I’m only a foreigner.”

11 Bo‘az answered her, “I’ve heard the whole story, everything you’ve done for your mother-in-law since your husband died, including how you left your father and mother and the land you were born in to come to a people about whom you knew nothing beforehand.

12 MayAdonaireward you for what you’ve done; may you be rewarded in full byAdonaithe God of Isra’el, under whose wings you have come for refuge.”

13 She said, “My lord, I hope I continue pleasing you. You have comforted and encouraged me, even though I’m not one of your servants.”

14 When meal-time came, Bo‘az said to her, “Come here, have something to eat, and dip your piece of bread in the [olive oil and] vinegar.” She sat by the reapers, and they passed her some roasted grain. She ate till she was full, and she had some left over.

15 When she got up to glean, Bo‘az ordered his young men, “Let her glean even among the sheaves themselves, without making her feel ashamed.

16 In fact, pull some ears of grain out from the sheaves on purpose. Leave them for her to glean, and don’t rebuke her.”

17 So she gleaned in the field until evening. When she beat out what she had gathered, it came to about a bushel of barley.

18 She picked it up and went back to the city. Her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned, and Rut brought out and gave her what she had left over after eating her fill.

19 Her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you glean today? Where were you working? Blessed be the one who took such good care of you!” She told her mother-in-law with whom she had been working; she said, “The name of the man with whom I was working today is Bo‘az.”

20 Na‘omi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed byAdonai, who has never stopped showing grace, neither to the living nor to the dead.” Na‘omi also told her, “The man is closely related to us; he’s one of our redeeming kinsmen.”

21 Rut the woman from Mo’av said, “Moreover, he even said to me, ‘Stay close to my young men until they’ve finished my harvest.’”

22 Na‘omi said to Rut her daughter-in-law, “It’s good, my daughter, for you to keep going out with his girls; so that you won’t encounter hostility in some other field.”

23 So she stayed close to Bo‘az’s girls to glean, until the end of the barley and wheat harvests; and she lived with her mother-in-law.

Rut (Rut) 3

1 Na‘omi her mother-in-law said to her, “My daughter, I should be seeking security for you; so that things will go well with you.

2 Now there’s Bo‘az our relative — you were with his girls. He’s going to be winnowing barley tonight at the threshing-floor.

3 So bathe, anoint yourself, put on your good clothes, and go down to the threshing-floor; but don’t reveal your presence to the man until he’s finished eating and drinking.

4 Then, when he lies down, take note of where he’s lying; later, go in, uncover his feet, and lie down. He will tell you what to do.”

5 She responded, “I will do everything you tell me.”

6 She went down to the threshing-floor and did everything as her mother-in-law had instructed her.

7 After Bo‘az was through eating and drinking and was feeling good, he went to lie down at the end of the pile of grain. She stole in, uncovered his feet and lay down.

8 In the middle of the night the man was startled and turned over, and — there was a woman lying at his feet!

9 He asked, “Who are you?” and she answered, “I’m your handmaid Rut. Spread your robe over your handmaid, because you are a redeeming kinsman.”

10 He said, “MayAdonaibless you, my daughter. Your latest kindness is even greater than your first, in that you didn’t go after the young men, neither the rich ones nor the poor.

11 And now, my daughter, don’t be afraid. I will do for you everything you say, for all the city leaders among my people know that you are a woman of good character.

12 Now, it is true that I am a redeeming kinsman; but there is a redeemer who is a closer relative than I am.

13 Stay tonight. If, in the morning, he will redeem you, fine! — let him redeem you. But if he doesn’t want to redeem you, then, asAdonailives, I will redeem you. Now, lie down until morning.”

14 She lay at his feet until morning; then, before [it was light enough that] people could recognize each other, she got up; because he said, “No one should know that the woman came to the threshing-floor.”

15 He also said, “Bring the shawl you are wearing, and take hold of it.” She held it while he put six measures of barley into it; then he went into the city.

16 When she came to her mother-in-law, she asked, “Who are you? My daughter?” She told her everything the man had done for her.

17 Then she added, “He gave me these six measures of barley; because he said to me, “You shouldn’t return to your mother-in-law with nothing.”

18 Na‘omi said, “My daughter, just stay where you are, until you learn how the matter comes out; for the man won’t rest unless he resolves the matter today.”