Study Desk

And Boaz ate and drank until his heart was merry and then he came to lie at the end of the grain heap. And she came in quietly and uncovered his feet and lay down.

And it happened in the middle of the night the man was startled and he reached out and behold, a woman was lying at his feet.

So she lay at his feet until morning and got up before anyone could recognize each other. And he said, "It must not be known that you came to the threshing floor."

And Boaz said, "On the day of your acquiring the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the wife of the dead man, in order to raise up for the name of the dead his inheritance."

(Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning the kinsman-redemption and transfer of property: to confirm the matter, a man removed his sandal and gave it to his fellow countryman. This was the manner of attesting in Israel.)

So the redeemer said to Boaz, "Acquire it for yourself," and he removed his sandal.

And also Ruth the Moabite, the wife of Mahlon, I have acquired as a wife, to raise up the name of the dead over his inheritance, so that the name of the dead may not be cut off from his relatives and from the gate of his birth place. You are witnesses today."

So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. And he went in to her, and Yahweh enabled her to conceive, and she bore a son.

And the women said to Naomi, "Blessed be Yahweh who today did not leave you without a redeemer! And may his name be renowned in Israel!

And Naomi took the child and she put him on her bosom and became his nurse.

And the women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, "A son has been born to Naomi." And they called his name Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

Now this man used to go up from his town year by year to worship and to sacrifice to Yahweh of hosts in Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests to Yahweh.

On the day Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters.

Then Hannah got up after eating and drinking at Shiloh. (Now Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the temple of Yahweh.)

She made a vow and said: "O Yahweh of hosts, if you will look with compassion on the misery of your female servant, and will remember me, and not forget your female servant, and will give to your female servant a male child then I will give him to Yahweh all the days of his life, and a razor will never pass over his head."

Then they rose early in the morning and worshiped before Yahweh and returned to their house at Ramah. Then Elkanah had sexual relations with Hannah his wife, and Yahweh remembered her.

In due time, Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She called his name Samuel, for she said, "I requested him from Yahweh."

So the man Elkanah went up with all his household to make the annual sacrifice to Yahweh and to pay his vow.

So her husband Elkanah said to her, "Do what seems right to you; stay until you wean him. Only may Yahweh fulfill his word." So the woman remained and nursed her son until she weaned him.

He will guard the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked will be destroyed in the darkness, because a man will not prevail by his might.