Ethan: Welcome to Immerse: the daily bible reading experience.
Day 100 and 82
now, there was a wealthy and influential man in Bethlehem named Boaz, who was
a relative of Naomi's husband, a Lile.
One day, Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, let me go out into the harvest fields to
pick up the stalks of grain left behind by anyone who is kind enough to let me do it.
Naomi replied.
All right, my daughter, go ahead.
So Ruth went out to gather grain behind the harvesters, and as it
happened, she found herself working in a field that belonged to Boaz, the
relative of her father-in-law ale.
While she was there, Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters.
The Lord be with you.
He said, the Lord bless you.
The harvesters replied.
Then Boaz asked his foreman, who is that young woman over there?
Who does she belong to?
And the foreman replied.
She is the young woman from Moab who came back with Naomi.
She asked me this morning if she could gather grain behind the harvesters.
She has been hard at work ever since, except for a few
minutes rest in the shelter.
Boaz went over and said to Ruth, Listen, my daughter, stay right here with us.
When you gather grain, don't go to any other fields.
Stay right behind the young women working in my field.
See which part of the field they are harvesting, and then follow them.
I have warned the young men not to treat you roughly, and when you
are thirsty, help yourself to the water they have drawn from the well.
Ruth fell at his feet and thanked him warmly.
What have I done to deserve such kindness?
She asked.
I am only a foreigner.
Yes, I know Boaz replied, but I also know about everything you
have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband.
I have heard how you left your father and mother and your own land to
live here among complete strangers.
May the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge,
reward you fully for what you have done.
I hope I continue to please you, sir, she replied, you have comforted me
by speaking so kindly to me, even though I am not one of your workers.
At mealtime.
Boaz called to her, come over here and help yourself to some food.
You can dip your bread in the sour wine.
So she sat with his harvesters and Boaz gave her some roasted grain to eat.
She ate all she wanted and still had some leftover.
When Ruth went back to work again, Boaz ordered his young men let
her gather grain right among the sheaves without stopping her.
And pull out some heads of barley from the bundles and drop them on purpose for her.
Let her pick them up and don't give her a hard time.
So Ruth gathered barley there all day, and when she beat out the grain that
evening, it filled an entire basket.
She carried it back into town and showed it to her mother-in-law.
Ruth also gave her the roasted grain that was left over from her meal.
Where did you gather all this grain today?
Naomi asked, where did you work?
May the Lord bless the one who helped you.
So Ruth told her mother-in-law about the man in whose field she had worked.
She said, the man I worked with today is named Boaz.
May the Lord bless him.
Naomi told her daughter-in-law, he is showing his kindness to us
as well as to your dead husband.
That man is one of our closest relatives, one of our family redeemers.
Then Ruth said, what's more Boaz even told me to come back and
stay with his harvesters until the entire harvest is completed.
Good.
Naomi exclaimed do as he said, my daughter, stay with his young women
right through the whole harvest.
You might be harassed in other fields, but you'll be safe with him.
So Ruth worked alongside the women in Boaz's fields and gathered grain with
them until the end of the barley harvest.
Then she continued working with them through the wheat harvest in
early summer, and all the while she lived with her mother-in-law.
One day, Naomi said to Ruth, my daughter, it's time that I found a permanent home
for you so that you will be provided for.
Boaz is a close relative of ours, and he's been very kind by letting you
gather grain with his young women.
Tonight he will be winnowing barley at the threshing floor.
Now do as I tell you, take a bath and put on perfume and
dress in your nicest clothes.
Then go to the threshing floor, but don't let Boaz see you until he
has finished eating and drinking.
Be sure to notice where he lies down.
Then go and uncover his feet and lie down there.
He will tell you what to do.
I will do everything you say.
Ruth replied.
So she went down to the threshing floor that night and followed the
instructions of her mother-in-law.
After Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits,
he laid down at the far end of the pile of grain and went to sleep.
Then Ruth came quietly uncovered his feet and laid down around midnight.
Boaz suddenly woke up and turned over.
He was surprised to find a woman lying at his feet.
Who are you?
He asked.
I am your servant, Ruth.
She replied, spread the corner of your covering over me for you are my family.
Redeemer.
The Lord bless you, my daughter Boaz exclaimed.
You are showing even more family loyalty now than you did before
for you have not gone after a younger man, whether rich or poor.
Now, don't worry about a thing my daughter.
I will do what is necessary for everyone in town knows you are a virtuous woman,
but while it's true that I am one of your family redeemers, there is another man who
is more closely related to you than I am.
Stay here tonight and in the morning I will talk to him.
If he is willing to redeem you very well, let him marry you.
But if he is not willing, then as surely as the Lord lives,
I will redeem you myself.
Now lie down here until morning.
So Ruth lay at Boaz's feet until the morning, but she got up
before it was light enough for people to recognize each other.
For Boaz had said, no one must know that a woman was here at the threshing floor.
Then Boaz said to her, Bring your cloak and spread it out.
He measured six scoops of barley into the cloak and placed it on her back.
Then he returned to the town.
When Ruth went back to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked what happened?
My daughter, Ruth told Naomi everything Boaz had done for her and she added,
he gave me these six scoops of barley and said, don't go back to
your mother-in-law empty handed.
Then Naomi said to her, just be patient, my daughter, until we hear what happens.
The man won't rest until he has settled things today.
Boaz went to the town gate and took a seat there.
Just then, the family Redeemer he had mentioned came by.
So Boaz called out to him, come over here and sit down friend.
I want to talk to you.
So they sat down together.
Then Boaz called 10 leaders from the town and asked them to sit as
witnesses, and Boaz said to the family, Redeemer, you know Naomi who came back
from Moab, she is selling the land that belonged to our relative Aek.
I thought I should speak to you about it so that you can redeem it if you wish.
If you want the land, then buy it here In the presence of these witnesses, I.
But if you don't want it, let me know right away because I
am next in line to redeem it.
After you, the man replied, all right, I'll redeem it.
Then Boaz told him, of course, your purchase of the land from
Naomi also requires that you marry Ruth, the Moabite widow.
That way she can have children who will carry on her husband's name
and keep the land and the family.
Then I can't redeem it.
The family redeemer replied, because this might endanger my own estate,
you redeem the land, I cannot do it.
Now, in those days, it was the custom in Israel for anyone transferring a
rite of purchase to remove his sandal and hand it to the other party.
This publicly validated the transaction.
So the other family, redeemer drew off his sandal, as he
said, to Boaz you by the land.
Then Boaz said to the elders and to the crowd standing around, you are witnesses
that today I have bought from Naomi all the property of Ale, Killian and Malan.
And with the land I have acquired Ruth, the Moabite widow of Malan to be my wife.
This way she can have a son to carry on the family name of her dead
husband and to inherit the family property here in his hometown.
You are all witnesses today.
Then the elders and all the people standing in the gate
replied, we are witnesses.
May the Lord make this woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah from
whom all the nation of Israel descend it.
May you prosper in Africa and be famous in Bethlehem, and may the Lord give
you descendants by this young woman who will be like those of our ancestor
Pire, the son of Tamar and Judah.
So Boaz took Ruth into his home and she became his wife.
When he slept with her, the Lord enabled her to become pregnant,
and she gave birth to a son.
Then the women of the town said to Naomi, praise the Lord, who has now
provided a redeemer for your family.
May this child be famous in Israel.
May he restore your youth and care for you in your old age.
For he is the son of your daughter-in-law who loves you and has
been better to you than seven sons.
Naomi took the baby and cuddled him to her breast.
And she cared for him as if he were her own the neighbor, women said.
Now at last, Naomi has a son again, and they named him Obed.
He became the father of Jesse and the grandfather of David.
This is the genealogical record of their ancestor Pires.
Pires was the father of Hezron.
Hezron was the father of Ram.
Ram was the father of Aada.
Aada was the father of Naan.
Naan was the father of Salman.
Salman was the father of Boaz.
Boaz was the father of Obed.
Obed was the father of Jesse.
Jesse was the father of David.
This concludes today's Immerse Reading experience.
Thank you for joining us.