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The key moments of the book, in order, one picture at a time.
Ruth 1:16-17
The road from Moab
On the dusty road leading to Judah, three women walk together. Naomi, the old one, has lost everything: her husband, her two sons. With her are her two daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth, daughters of Moab. Naomi stops. She tells them to go back home, to return to their families. Orpah weeps, kisses her, and goes back to Moab.
But Ruth stands still, unmoving. Naomi insists again, "Go back, like your sister-in-law." Ruth clings to her, her face set firm.
Then Ruth speaks, her words simple and strong: "Do not urge me to leave you, to turn back from following you. Where you go, I will go. Where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me, if anything but death separates me from you."
Naomi falls silent. The two women take to the road together, toward Bethlehem.
Ruth 1:19-21
Empty into Bethlehem
Naomi and Ruth walk a long way. At last, they arrive in Bethlehem. The whole town stirs. The women crowd around them and whisper, "Can this be Naomi?"
Naomi shakes her head. "Do not call me Naomi anymore," she says. "Call me Mara, for God has filled me with bitterness. I went away full, and I have come back empty."
She tells of her misfortune. Her husband has died. Her two sons too. She has only this young woman left at her side, Ruth, who came from Moab out of faithfulness. The people of Bethlehem listen in silence. It is the beginning of the barley harvest. The fields are golden all around the town. No one yet knows that this season will change the lives of Naomi and Ruth, forever.
Ruth 2:3-12
Gleaning in the field
Ruth goes out into the fields. She wants to gather the grain the reapers leave behind. It is a rule for the poor, in this land. She walks without knowing where she is going, and she happens to arrive in a field belonging to Boaz.
Boaz arrives from the town. He greets his workers, "The Lord be with you!" He sees this young foreign woman and asks who she is. A servant answers, "She is the Moabite, the one who came back with Naomi."
Boaz approaches Ruth. He tells her, "Stay here, in my field. Follow my servant girls. No one will touch you. Drink the water my young men have drawn." Ruth bows down to the ground and asks, "Why are you so kind to me, a foreigner?" Boaz answers, "I have been told all that you have done for Naomi. May God reward you."
Ruth 3:7-9
The threshing floor
Night falls on the threshing floor. Boaz eats, drinks, then lies down near the pile of barley, his heart content. He falls asleep quickly.
Ruth waits, hidden in the shadows. When all is quiet, she creeps forward softly, without a sound. She uncovers Boaz's feet and lies down there, at his feet, as Naomi advised her.
In the middle of the night, Boaz startles awake. It is suddenly cold. He feels around him and senses a woman lying at his feet. Surprised, he asks, "Who are you?"
Ruth answers softly, "I am Ruth, your servant. Spread the corner of your garment over me, for you are a kinsman-redeemer, with the right to protect me."
Boaz listens to her in silence, in the quiet night.
Ruth 4:7-10
The sandal at the gate
Boaz sits at the town gate, with the elders. The closer kinsman of Ruth is there too. Boaz offers him the chance to buy Elimelech's field, but he adds a condition: he will also have to marry Ruth, the Moabite.
The man thinks it over. He says, "I cannot do this, I would risk damaging my own inheritance. Do it yourself, in my place."
Then this man takes off his sandal and gives it to Boaz. This is the custom, among them, for sealing an agreement. Before all the elders, Boaz declares, "You are witnesses today. I am buying Elimelech's property, and I am taking Ruth as my wife, so that the name of the dead may live on upon his land."
The people gathered answer, "We are witnesses!"
Ruth 4:14-17
A son for Naomi
A baby has just been born. He is the son of Ruth and Boaz. The women of the village come to see Naomi. They are happy for her.
They say to her, "Blessed be the Lord! He has given you a grandson today. This child will take care of you when you are old. Your daughter-in-law Ruth loves you. She is better to you than seven sons."
Naomi takes the baby in her arms. She holds him close. She becomes his nurse, like a grandmother caring for her grandson every day.
The neighbor women give the child a name. They call him Obed. Later, this Obed will have a son, Jesse. And Jesse will have a famous son: David, the future king of Israel. So the family of Naomi continues, thanks to Ruth.
