Rachel Workman: 8 So Boaz said to Ruth, “My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another field and don’t go away from here. Stay here with the women who work for me. 9 Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the women. I have told the men not to lay a hand on you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.”
10 At
this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She asked him, “Why have I
found such favor in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?”
11 Boaz
replied, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law
since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your
homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. 12 May
the Lord repay you for what you
have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord,
the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”
13 “May I
continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord,” she said. “You have put me at
ease by speaking kindly to your servant—though I do not have the standing of
one of your servants.”
14 At
mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the
wine vinegar.”
I
can't imagine how scared both of them were. Ruth could have returned to her
family where she knows she would have been cared for. Instead she choose to
take care of Naomi by staying with her. It took courage. Without having said
anything Ruth's deeds were know by others. Had those deeds been bad deeds they
would have know about them also.
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Mike
Grimm: 8 So Boaz said to Ruth, “My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in
another field and don’t go away from here. Stay here with the women who work
for me. 9 Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and
follow along after the women. I have told the men not to lay a hand on you. And
whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have
filled.”
10 At this, she bowed
down with her face to the ground. She asked him, “Why have I found such favor
in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?”
11 Boaz replied,
“I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the
death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and
came to live with a people you did not know before. 12 May the Lord repay you for what you have done.
May you be richly rewarded by the Lord,
the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”
Ruth’s
life exhibited admirable qualities: she was hard working, loving, kind,
faithful, and brave. These qualities gained for her a good reputation, but only
because she displayed them consistently in all areas of her life.
Wherever Ruth went or whatever she did, her character remained the same.
Our
reputation is formed by the people who watch us at work, in town, at home, in
church. A good reputation comes by consistently living out the qualities
we believe in—no matter what group of people or surroundings we are in.
13 “May I continue to
find favor in your eyes, my lord,” she said. “You have put me at ease by
speaking kindly to your servant—though I do not have the standing of one of
your servants.”
14 At mealtime Boaz
said to her, “Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar.”
When she
sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all
she wanted and had some left over. 15 As she got up to glean,
Boaz gave orders to his men, “Let her gather among the sheaves and don’t
reprimand her. 16 Even pull out some stalks for her from the
bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don’t rebuke her.”
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Tomorrow’s reading for Ruth 2:15-19
17 So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah.[a] 18 She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over after she had eaten enough.
19 Her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!”
Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. “The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz,” she said.
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