Ruth Gleans in Boaz's Field

Ruth the Moabite asked Naomi for permission to go to the fields to glean ears of grain behind someone in whose eyes she might find favor. Naomi agreed, and Ruth went to a field belonging to Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimelech (Ruth 2:2-3). When Boaz arrived from Bethlehem, he questioned his servant in charge of the reapers regarding the identity of the young woman. The servant identified her as the Moabite woman who returned with Naomi and noted that she had requested to glean and gather among the sheaves (Ruth 2:5-7).

Boaz instructed Ruth not to go to another field but to stay close to his young women. He informed her that he had commanded his young men not to touch her and that she was permitted to drink from the vessels the young men had filled (Ruth 2:8-9). Ruth prostrated herself and asked why she had found favor, as she was a foreigner. Boaz replied that he had been fully told of all she had done for her mother-in-law since the death of her husband, including how she left her parents and her native land (Ruth 2:10-11).

At mealtime, Boaz invited Ruth to eat bread and dip her morsel in the wine vinegar. She sat beside the reapers, and he reached out roasted grain to her until she was satisfied. After she rose to glean, Boaz commanded his young men to let her glean even among the sheaves and to pull out some grain from the bundles for her to pick up (Ruth 2:14-16). Ruth gleaned in the field until evening and beat out what she had gathered, which was about an ephah of barley. She returned to Bethlehem and showed Naomi what she had gathered and what she had saved from her meal (Ruth 2:17-18).