What does Ruth teach us about redemption?

¹In the days when the judges judged, there was a famine in the land. A certain man of Bethlehem Judah went to live in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.

²The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem Judah. They came into the country of Moab, and continued there.

³Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left, and her two sons.

⁴They took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they lived there about ten years.

⁵Mahlon and Chilion both died, and the woman was bereaved of her two children and of her husband.

⁶Then she arose with her daughters-in-law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that Yahweh had visited his people in giving them bread.

⁷She went out of the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her; and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah.

⁸Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each of you to her mother’s house: Yahweh deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead, and with me.

⁹Yahweh grant you that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband.” Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voice, and wept.

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

¹¹Naomi said, “Go back, my daughters. Why do you want to go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands?

¹²Go back, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say, ‘I have hope,’ if I should even have a husband tonight, and should also bear sons;

¹³would you then wait until they were grown? Would you then refrain from having husbands? No, my daughters, for it grieves me much for your sakes, for the hand of Yahweh has gone out against me.”

¹⁴They lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth joined with her.

¹⁵She said, “Behold, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people, and to her god. Follow your sister-in-law.”

¹⁶Ruth said, “Don’t entreat me to leave you, and to return from following after you, for where you go, I will go; and where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God;

¹⁷where you die, will I die, and there will I be buried. Yahweh do so to me, and more also, if anything but death part you and me.”

¹⁸When she saw that she was steadfastly minded to go with her, she left off speaking to her.

¹⁹So they two went until they came to Bethlehem. When they had come to Bethlehem, all the city was excited about them, and they asked, “Is this Naomi?”

²⁰She said to them, “Don’t call me Naomi. Call me Mara; for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.

²¹I went out full, and Yahweh has brought me home again empty; why do you call me Naomi, since Yahweh has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?”

²²So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her, who returned out of the country of Moab: and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest.

¹Naomi had a kinsman of her husband’s, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz.

²Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Let me now go to the field, and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor.” She said to her, “Go, my daughter.”

³She went, and came and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and she happened to come to the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.

⁴Behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said to the reapers, “Yahweh be with you.” They answered him, “Yahweh bless you.”

⁵Then Boaz said to his servant who was set over the reapers, “Whose young lady is this?”

⁶The servant who was set over the reapers answered, “It is the Moabite lady who came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab.

⁷She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.’ So she came, and has continued even from the morning until now, except that she stayed a little in the house.”

⁸Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter. Don’t go to glean in another field, and don’t go from here, but stay here close to my maidens.

⁹Let your eyes be on the field that they reap, and go after them. Haven’t I commanded the young men not to touch you? When you are thirsty, go to the vessels, and drink from that which the young men have drawn.”

¹⁰Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your sight, that you should take knowledge of me, since I am a foreigner?”

¹¹Boaz answered her, “It has fully been shown me, all that you have done to your mother-in-law since the death of your husband; and how you have left your father and your mother, and the land of your birth, and have come to a people that you didn’t know before.

¹²May Yahweh repay your work, and a full reward be given you from Yahweh, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”

¹³Then she said, “Let me find favor in your sight, my lord, because you have comforted me, and because you have spoken kindly to your handmaid, though I am not as one of your handmaidens.”

¹Now Boaz went up to the gate, and sat down there. Behold, the near kinsman of whom Boaz spoke came by; to whom he said, “Come over here, friend, and sit down!” He turned aside, and sat down.

²He took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, “Sit down here.” They sat down.

³He said to the near kinsman, “Naomi, who has come back out of the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech’s.

⁴I thought to disclose it to you, saying, ‘Buy it before those who sit here, and before the elders of my people.’ If you will redeem it, redeem it; but if you will not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know. For there is no one to redeem it besides you; and I am after you.” He said, “I will redeem it.”

⁵Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must buy it also from Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance.”

⁶The near kinsman said, “I can’t redeem it for myself, lest I mar my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption for yourself; for I can’t redeem it.”

⁷Now this was the custom in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning exchanging, to confirm all things: a man took off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbor; and this was the way of attestation in Israel.

⁸So the near kinsman said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself.” He took off his shoe.

⁹Boaz said to the elders, and to all the people, “You are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s, and all that was Chilion’s and Mahlon’s, from the hand of Naomi.

¹⁰Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, I have purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance, that the name of the dead not be cut off from among his brothers, and from the gate of his place. You are witnesses this day.”

¹¹All the people who were in the gate, and the elders, said, “We are witnesses. May Yahweh make the woman who has come into your house like Rachel and like Leah, which two built the house of Israel; and treat you worthily in Ephrathah, and be famous in Bethlehem.

¹²Let your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, of the seed which Yahweh shall give you of this young woman.”

¹³So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife; and he went in to her, and Yahweh gave her conception, and she bore a son.

¹⁴The women said to Naomi, “Blessed be Yahweh, who has not left you this day without a near kinsman; and let his name be famous in Israel.

¹⁵He shall be to you a restorer of life, and sustain you in your old age, for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons, has borne him.”

¹⁶Naomi took the child, and laid it in her bosom, and became nurse to it.

¹⁷The women, her neighbors, gave him a name, saying, “There is a son born to Naomi”; and they named him Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David.