1Noemí tenía un pariente de su marido en Belén que era muy rico. Se llamaba Booz.2Un día Rut le dijo a Noemí: ―Quizás yo pueda ir a los campos de algún hombre bondadoso para recoger algunas de las gavillas que quedan tras los segadores. Y Noemí dijo: ―Muy bien, hija mía, ve a hacer lo que has dicho.3Y así lo hizo. Ocurrió que el campo en que ella entró a espigar pertenecía a Booz el pariente del marido de Noemí.4Booz llegó de la ciudad mientras ella estaba allí. Después de cambiar saludos con los segadores,5preguntó al capataz: ―¿Quién es esa muchacha que está allí?6El capataz le dijo: ―Es la joven moabita que volvió con Noemí.7Me pidió permiso esta mañana para recoger las gavillas que se les caían a los segadores, y ha estado recogiéndolas desde entonces, salvo unos pocos minutos que estuvo descansando a la sombra.8Booz se dirigió a ella y le dijo: ―Escucha, hija mía. Quédate aquí para espigar. No vayas a otros campos.9Sigue detrás de mis segadoras. Yo les he dicho a los hombres que no te molesten; y cuando tengas sed, bebe del agua que sacan los criados.10Ella le dio gracias de todo corazón: ―¿Cómo puedes ser tan bondadoso conmigo? —preguntó—. Tú sabes que yo tan sólo soy una extranjera.11―Sí —replicó Booz—, pero sé también de todo el amor y bondad que has mostrado a tu suegra desde la muerte de tu marido, y cómo has dejado a tu padre y a tu madre en tu tierra y has venido a vivir entre nosotros como extranjera.12Que el Dios de Israel, bajo cuyas alas has venido a refugiarte, te bendiga por ello.13―Gracias, señor —contestó ella—, tú has sido bondadoso conmigo, aunque ni siquiera soy una de tus trabajadoras.14A la hora de la comida, Booz la llamó: ―Ven y come con nosotros. Ella se sentó con los segadores y él le sirvió comida, más de la que podía comer.15Y cuando volvió al trabajo nuevamente, Booz les dijo a sus hombres que la dejaran espigar entre las gavillas sin prohibírselo,16y que dejaran caer espigas con el propósito de que ella las recogiera, y no la reprendieran.17Ella trabajó allí todo el día, y en la tarde, después de desgranar la cebada que había espigado la midió, y eran como veinticuatro kilos.18Se los llevó a la ciudad y se los dio a su suegra, juntamente con la comida que había sobrado.19―¿Cómo pudiste sacar tanto? —exclamó Noemí—. ¿Dónde has estado espigando hoy? Gracias a Dios por la persona que ha sido tan bondadosa contigo. Rut le contó a su suegra todo lo ocurrido y le dijo que el nombre del propietario del campo era Booz.20―¡Que Dios lo bendiga! Dios ha seguido mostrándonos su misericordia a nosotras y también a tu marido muerto —exclamó Noemí muy emocionada—. Ese hombre es uno de nuestros parientes más cercanos. Él tiene la obligación de ayudarnos.21―Me dijo que regresara y espigara muy cerca de las segadoras hasta que haya terminado la cosecha de todo el campo —añadió Rut.22―¡Esto es maravilloso! —exclamó Noemí—. Haz lo que él ha dicho. Quédate con sus criadas hasta que haya terminado la cosecha. Estarás más segura allí que en cualquier otro campo.23Así lo hizo Rut, y espigó con ellos hasta el fin de la cosecha de la cebada, y luego durante el tiempo de la cosecha del trigo. En ese tiempo vivía con su suegra.
1Now Naomi had a relative of her husband’s, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. (Rt 3:2; Rt 3:12; Rt 4:21; Mt 1:5)2And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor.” And she said to her, “Go, my daughter.” (Dt 24:19; Rt 2:10; Rt 2:13)3So she set out and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers, and she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimelech.4And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem. And he said to the reapers, “The Lord be with you!” And they answered, “The Lord bless you.” (Sal 129:7)5Then Boaz said to his young man who was in charge of the reapers, “Whose young woman is this?”6And the servant who was in charge of the reapers answered, “She is the young Moabite woman, who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab. (Rt 1:22)7She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves after the reapers.’ So she came, and she has continued from early morning until now, except for a short rest.”[1]8Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Now, listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young women.9Let your eyes be on the field that they are reaping, and go after them. Have I not charged the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink what the young men have drawn.”10Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?” (Rt 2:19; 1 S 25:23; 1 S 25:41)11But Boaz answered her, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me, and how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before. (Rt 1:14; Rt 1:16)12The Lord repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!” (1 S 24:19)13Then she said, “I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, for you have comforted me and spoken kindly to your servant, though I am not one of your servants.” (Gn 33:15; Rt 2:2; Rt 2:10; 1 S 1:18)14And at mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come here and eat some bread and dip your morsel in the wine.” So she sat beside the reapers, and he passed to her roasted grain. And she ate until she was satisfied, and she had some left over. (Rt 2:18)15When she rose to glean, Boaz instructed his young men, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her.16And also pull out some from the bundles for her and leave it for her to glean, and do not rebuke her.”17So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah[2] of barley.18And she took it up and went into the city. Her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She also brought out and gave her what food she had left over after being satisfied. (Rt 2:14)19And her mother-in-law said to her, “Where did you glean today? And where have you worked? Blessed be the man who took notice of you.” So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said, “The man’s name with whom I worked today is Boaz.” (Rt 2:10)20And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by the Lord, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead!” Naomi also said to her, “The man is a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers.” (Jue 17:2; Rt 1:8; Rt 3:9; Rt 3:10; Rt 4:14; 1 S 15:13; 1 S 23:21; 2 S 2:5)21And Ruth the Moabite said, “Besides, he said to me, ‘You shall keep close by my young men until they have finished all my harvest.’”22And Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, lest in another field you be assaulted.”23So she kept close to the young women of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the barley and wheat harvests. And she lived with her mother-in-law.