| 3:1 | At that time,* Naomi, her mother-in-law, said to her, “My daughter, I must find a home for you so you will be secure.* |
| 3:2 | Now Boaz, with whose female servants you worked, is our close relative.* Look, tonight he is winnowing barley at the threshing floor.* |
| 3:3 | So bathe yourself,* rub on some perfumed oil,* and get dressed up.* Then go down* to the threshing floor. But don’t let the man know you’re there until he finishes his meal.* |
| 3:4 | When he gets ready to go to sleep,* take careful notice of the place where he lies down. Then go, uncover his legs,* and lie down* beside him.* He will tell* you what you should do.” |
| 3:5 | Ruth replied to Naomi,* “I will do everything you have told* me* to do.”* |
| 3:6 | So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law had instructed her to do.* |
| 3:7 | When Boaz had finished his meal and was feeling satisfied, he lay down to sleep at the far end of the grain heap.* Then Ruth* crept up quietly,* uncovered his legs,* and lay down beside him.* |
| 3:8 | In the middle of the night he was startled* and turned over.* Now* he saw a woman* lying beside him!* |
| 3:9 | He said, “Who are you?”* She replied, “I am Ruth, your servant.* Marry your servant,* for you are a guardian of the family interests.”* |
| 3:10 | He said, “May you be rewarded* by the Lord, my dear!* This act of devotion* is greater than what you did before.* For you have not sought to marry* one of the young men, whether rich or poor.* |
| 3:11 | Now, my dear, don’t worry!* I intend to do for you everything you propose,* for everyone in the village* knows that you are a worthy woman.* |
| 3:12 | Now yes, it is true that* I am a guardian,* but there is another guardian who is a closer relative than I am. |
| 3:13 | Remain here tonight. Then in the morning, if he agrees to marry you,* fine,* let him do so.* But if he does not want to do so, I promise, as surely as the Lord lives, to marry you.* Sleep here until morning.”* |
| 3:14 | So she slept beside him* until morning. She woke up while it was still dark.* Boaz thought,* “No one must know that a woman visited the threshing floor.”* |
| 3:15 | Then he said, “Hold out the shawl* you are wearing* and grip it tightly.” As she held it tightly, he measured out about sixty pounds* of barley into the shawl and put it on her shoulders. Then he* went into town, |
| 3:16 | and she returned to her mother-in-law.When Ruth returned to her mother-in-law, Naomi* asked,* “How did things turn out for you,* my daughter?” Ruth* told her about all the man had done for her.* |
| 3:17 | She said, “He gave me these sixty pounds of barley, for he said to me,* ‘Do not go to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’”* |
| 3:18 | Then Naomi* said, “Stay put,* my daughter, until you know how the matter turns out. For the man will not rest until he has taken care of the matter today.” |
Ruth 3 - NET Bible [draft]
