Ruth 3:1-13

Ruth and Boaz at the Threshing Floor

1 One day Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi said to her, “My daughter, I must find a home[a] for you, where you will be well provided for.
2 Now Boaz, with whose women you have worked, is a relative of ours. Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor.
3 Wash, put on perfume, and get dressed in your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing floor, but don’t let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking.
4 When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do.”
5 “I will do whatever you say,” Ruth answered.
6 So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law told her to do.
7 When Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he went over to lie down at the far end of the grain pile. Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down.
8 In the middle of the night something startled the man; he turned—and there was a woman lying at his feet!
9 “Who are you?” he asked. “I am your servant Ruth,” she said. “Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a guardian-redeemer[b] of our family.”
10 “The LORD bless you, my daughter,” he replied. “This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier: You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor.
11 And now, my daughter, don’t be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. All the people of my town know that you are a woman of noble character.
12 Although it is true that I am a guardian-redeemer of our family, there is another who is more closely related than I.
13 Stay here for the night, and in the morning if he wants to do his duty as your guardian-redeemer, good; let him redeem you. But if he is not willing, as surely as the LORD lives I will do it. Lie here until morning.”

Cross References 22

  • 1. Ruth 1:14
  • 2. Ruth 1:9
  • 3. Deuteronomy 25:5-10; S Ruth 2:1
  • 4. S Leviticus 2:14; S Numbers 18:27; S Judges 6:11
  • 5. 2 Samuel 12:20; 2 Kings 5:10; Psalms 26:6; Psalms 51:2; Isaiah 1:16; Jeremiah 4:14; Ezekiel 16:9
  • 6. 2 Samuel 14:2; Isaiah 61:3
  • 7. S Genesis 41:14
  • 8. S Exodus 32:6; S Ecclesiastes 2:3; S Jeremiah 15:17
  • 9. Ephesians 6:1; Colossians 3:20
  • 10. S Numbers 18:27
  • 11. Jdg 19:6,9,22; 1 Samuel 25:36; 2 Samuel 13:28; 1 Kings 21:7; Esther 1:10
  • 12. 2 Chronicles 31:6; Song of Songs 7:2; Jeremiah 50:26; Haggai 2:16
  • 13. Ezekiel 16:8
  • 14. ver 12; S Ruth 2:20
  • 15. S Judges 17:2
  • 16. S Joshua 2:12
  • 17. Proverbs 12:4; Proverbs 14:1; Proverbs 31:10
  • 18. ver 9; S Ruth 2:20
  • 19. Ruth 4:1
  • 20. Deuteronomy 25:5; Ruth 4:5; Matthew 22:24
  • 21. S Numbers 14:21; Hosea 4:15; Judges 8:19; Jeremiah 4:2
  • 22. Ruth 4:6

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. Hebrew "find rest" (see 1:9).
  • [b]. The Hebrew word for "guardian-redeemer" is a legal term for one who has the obligation to redeem a relative in serious difficulty (see Lev. 25:25-55); also in verses 12 and 13.
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