April 7: Ruth 1:1 – Ruth 4:12

Naomi Widowed – Ruth 1

• Late in the time when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. Elimelech, a man of Bethlehem in Judah (an Ephraimite), goes to sojourn in the land of Moab with his wife Ruth and sons Mahlon and Chillion. While they are there, Elimelech dies and the sons take wives, named Orpah and Ruth. They live there for about ten years, then Mahlon and Chillion also die.

Ruth's Loyalty to Naomi

• Naomi decides to return to her people, as she has heard that the famine has passed. She sets out with her daughters-in-law, but then she tells them to return to their mothers' houses and may God bless them. 
• When she kisses them, they weep and tell her they will return with her to her people. She responds that she is too old to have sons who could marry them. Orpah agrees to return to her mother's house, but Ruth insists she will go with Naomi.

Naomi and Ruth Return

• Naomi returns to Bethlehem with Ruth. She tells the people there to call her Mara now, for she left full and returned empty. They reach Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.

Ruth Meets Boaz – Ruth 2

• Naomi had a relative of her husband's named Boaz. Ruth asks Naomi if she may go to the field to glean among the ears of grain, in hopes that she might find favor with him. Naomi agrees.
• When Boaz sees her in the fields, he asks who she is and the man in charge of the reapers tells him she is the Moabite woman who returned with Naomi and that she has been working all day with only a short rest. 
• Boaz tells Ruth to stay in his field and keep close to the other young women. He continues that he has told his men to leave her alone and that she may drink of his waters when she is thirsty. She falls on her face before him and asks what she has done to find favor in his eyes. He tells her that he is repaying her for all she has done for Naomi.
• At mealtime, Boaz asks Ruth to eat with him and his reapers. When she leaves, he tells him men to allow her to glean among the sheaves, and to leave her alone. She gleans until evening and then beats out what she gleaned (about an ephah of barley), then takes it home to Naomi. Naomi asks who allowed her to glean in the field, and Ruth tells her. Naomi informs her that he is one of her kinsman redeemers and that Ruth should follow his instructions and stay in his fields.

Ruth and Boaz at the Threshing Floor – Ruth 3

• Naomi tells Ruth to wash and anoint herself and then go down to the threshing floor, where Boaz is winnowing. She is to not make herself known to him until he is finished eating and drinking. When he lies down, she is to uncover his feet and lie at them, and he will tell her what to do. Ruth does as instructed.
• At midnight Boaz awakens and finds her there. He asks her who she is, and she gives her name and tells him he is a redeemer. He tells her not to fear, that because she has not gone after younger men, she has found favor with him. He points out that there is a closer redeemer than he, so if that man will redeem her, fine, but if not, then he will redeem her.
• She lays at his feet until morning, then wakes before anyone else will see her there with him. He gives her six measures of barley, and she returns to Naomi.

Boaz Redeems Ruth – Ruth 4

• Boaz goes to the city elders and when Ruth's closer redeemer walks by, he tells him that Naomi has returned and plans to sell her parcel of land in Bethlehem. The closer redeemer agrees to buy it until he learns that he must also take Ruth (a foreigner) along with it. The closer redeemer refuses, as marrying a foreigner would impair his inheritance. He tells Boaz to redeem the field and Ruth instead and takes off his sandal. Boaz announces that all the surrounding people are witnesses to his buying Naomi's land and taking Ruth as a wife. The people bless Boaz.