There it came to pass that all the city was moved about them, and the people said, “Is this Naomi?”
“Call me not Naomi,” she said unto them. “Call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.[146-1] I went out full and the Lord hath brought me home again empty: why then call me Naomi, seeing the Lord hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me?”
So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her, which returned out of the country of Moab: and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest.
II
Naomi had a kinsman of her husband’s, a mighty man of wealth; and his name was Boaz.
And Ruth said unto Naomi, “Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace.” And Naomi answered, “Go, my daughter.”
And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz.
And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said unto the reapers, “The Lord be with you.”
And the reapers answered him, “The Lord bless thee.” Then said Boaz unto his servant that was set over the reapers, “Whose damsel is this?”
And the servant answered and said, “It is the Moabitish damsel that came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab. And she said, ‘I pray you, let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves’: so she came, and hath continued even from the morning until now, that she tarried a little in the house.”