15 Then Ruth got up and went back to work. Then Boaz told his servants, “Let Ruth gather even around the piles of grain. Don’t stop her.
16 And make her work easier by dropping some full heads of grain for her. Let her gather that grain. Don’t tell her to stop.”
17 Ruth worked in the fields until evening. Then she separated the grain from the chaff. There was about one-half bushel of barley.
18 Ruth carried the grain into town to show her mother-in-law what she had gathered. She also gave her the food that was left from lunch.
19 Her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you gather all this grain? Where did you work? Bless the man who noticed you.” Then Ruth told her who she had worked with. She said, “The man I worked with today is a man named Boaz.”
20 Naomi told her daughter-in-law, “The Lord bless him! He has continued showing his kindness to the living as well as the dead.” Then Naomi told her daughter-in-law, “Boaz is one of our relatives. He is one of our protectors.”
21 Then Ruth said, “Boaz also told me to come back and continue working. He said that I should work closely with his servants until the harvest is finished.”