Study Desk

After she had left to go and gather grain, Boaz ordered the workers, "Let her gather grain even where the bundles are lying, and don't say anything to stop her. Besides that, pull out some heads of grain from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up."

"May the Lord bless Boaz!" Naomi exclaimed. "The Lord always keeps his promises to the living and the dead." And she went on, "That man is a close relative of ours, one of those responsible for taking care of us."

Naomi said to Ruth, "Yes, daughter, it will be better for you to work with the women in Boaz' field. You might be molested if you went to someone else's field."

Some time later Naomi said to Ruth, "I must find a husband for you, so that you will have a home of your own.

"Who are you?" he asked. "It's Ruth, sir," she answered. "Because you are a close relative, you are responsible for taking care of me. So please marry me."

"The Lord bless you," he said. "You are showing even greater family loyalty in what you are doing now than in what you did for your mother-in-law. You might have gone looking for a young man, either rich or poor, but you haven't.

It is true that I am a close relative and am responsible for you, but there is a man who is a closer relative than I am.

Stay here the rest of the night, and in the morning we will find out whether or not he will take responsibility for you. If so, well and good; if not, then I swear by the living Lord that I will take the responsibility. Now lie down and stay here till morning."

So she lay there at his feet, but she got up before it was light enough for her to be seen, because Boaz did not want anyone to know that she had been there.

When she arrived home, her mother-in-law asked her, "How did you get along, daughter?" Ruth told her everything that Boaz had done for her.

Now in those days, to settle a sale or an exchange of property, it was the custom for the seller to take off his sandal and give it to the buyer. In this way the Israelites showed that the matter was settled.

Your daughter-in-law loves you, and has done more for you than seven sons. And now she has given you a grandson, who will bring new life to you and give you security in your old age."

Hannah made a solemn promise: " Lord Almighty, look at me, your servant! See my trouble and remember me! Don't forget me! If you give me a son, I promise that I will dedicate him to you for his whole life and that he will never have his hair cut."

Hannah continued to pray to the Lord for a long time, and Eli watched her lips.

"Go in peace," Eli said, "and may the God of Israel give you what you have asked him for."

So it was that she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, and explained, "I asked the Lord for him."

The time came again for Elkanah and his family to go to Shiloh and offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice and the special sacrifice he had promised.

I asked him for this child, and he gave me what I asked for.

Stop your loud boasting; silence your proud words. For the Lord is a God who knows, and he judges all that people do.

In addition, even before the fat was taken off and burned, the priest's servant would come and say to the one offering the sacrifice, "Give me some meat for the priest to roast; he won't accept boiled meat from you, only raw meat."