Ruth
רות
The Rashi Ketuvim by Rabbi Shraga Silverstein
http://www.sefaria.org/shraga-silverstein

Ruth



Chapter 1

	And it was, in the days of the rule of the judges [i.e., before the reign of King Saul, when the people were led by judges, the judge at that particular time being Ivtzan [(Boaz, viz. Judges 12:8)], that there was a hunger in the land. And there went a man from Bethlehem in Judah to dwell in the fields of Moav, he, his wife, and his two sons.
	The name of the man was Elimelech; the name of his wife was Na'ami; and the names of his two sons were Machlon and Kilyon, men of eminence, from Bethlehem in Judah. And they came to the fields of Moav, and they were [i.e., they remained] there.
	And Elimelech died, the husband of Na'ami [("a man dying only to his wife")]; and she and her two sons remained.
	And they took for themselves Moavite wives, the name of one being Arpah, and the name of the other, Ruth [(the daughter of Eglon, king of Moav)], and they dwelt there about ten years.
	And there died also [(after they had lost their wealth and their cattle had died)] the two of them, Machlon and Kilyon. And the woman remained [bereft] of her two children and of her husband.
	And she and her daughters-in-law arose and she returned from the fields of Moav; for she heard in the field of Moav that the L-rd had remembered His people to give them bread.
	And she left the place where she was [("the place" was bereft of its splendor with the leaving of the righteous one, Na'ami)], and her two daughters-in-law with her. And they walked on the way to return to the land of Judah.
	And Na'ami said to her two daughters-in-law: Go, return, each of you, to the house of her mother. May the L-rd do with you lovingkindess, as you have done with the dead and with me.
	May the L-rd grant that you find rest, each in the house of her husband. And she kissed them, and they raised their voices and cried.
	And they said to her: But we shall return with you to your people.
	And Na'ami said: Return, my daughters. Why should you go with me? Do I yet have sons in my womb who can be to you as husbands?
	Return, my daughters, go. For I am too old to wed a man [(and have sons by him for you to marry.)] For [even if] I said: There is [still] hope for me [(to bear)]; even if I were this night with a man [(and conceived sons by him)]; even if I had [already] borne sons —
	Would you wait for them until they are grown? Would you restrict yourselves for them not to wed a man? No, my daughters, for my lot is far more bitter than yours; for the hand of the L-rd [i.e., pestilence (viz. Exodus 9:3)] has gone forth against me.
	And they lifted their voices and cried even more. And Arpah kissed her mother-in-law, and Ruth cleaved to her.
	And she said; Behold, your sister-in-law has returned to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.
	And Ruth said: Do not entreat me to forsake you, to turn back from after you. For whither you go, shall I go; where you lie down, shall I lie down; your people are my people; and your G-d is my G-d.
	Where you die, shall I die, and there shall I be buried. Thus, [(as He has begun to do by killing my husband and by impoverishing me)], may the L-rd [continue to] do to me, and thus may He add if [aught other than] death divide between me and you.
	And she saw that she was intent on going with her, and she left off speaking with her [to dissuade her].
	And the two of them went [(Ruth, once she decided to become a proselyte, being equated with Na'ami)], until they came to Bethlehem. And it was, when they came to Bethlehem, that the entire city was in a tumult over them [(having gathered for the burial of Boaz's wife, who had died just that day)]. And they said: Is this Na'ami [(who was wont to travel in panoply! See what has become of her for having left Eretz Yisrael!)]
	And she said to them: Do not call me Na'ami [("pleasantness")]; call me Mara [("bitterness")], for the Almighty has sorely embittered me.
	I went away full [(with wealth and children)], and the L-rd returned me empty. Why do you call me Na'ami when the L-rd has testified against me [(as having transgressed)], and the Almighty has brought evil against me?
	And Na'ami returned, and Ruth, the Moavitess, her daughter-in-law, with her, who returned from the fields of Moav. And they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of the barley harvest [(the omer harvest)].

Chapter 2

	And Na'ami had a kinsman [(a nephew)] of her husband [(Elimelech)], a valiant man of the family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz.
	And Ruth the Moavitess said to Na'ami: Let me now go to the field and glean in the sheaves after one in whose eyes I will find favor. And she said to her: Go, my daughter.
	And she went and she returned [i.e., she made markers by which she could return], and she gleaned in the field after the harvesters, and she chanced upon the portion of the field that belonged to Boaz of the family of Elimelech.
	And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and he said to the harvesters: The L-rd be with you! And they said to him: May the L-rd bless you.
	And Boaz [(seeing Ruth gleaning with discretion and modesty)] asked his youth: Whose maiden is this?
	And the youth who was appointed over the harvesters answered and said: She is a Moavite maiden, who returned with Na'ami from the fields of Moav,
	and she said [to herself]: Let me glean [(the gleaning of the ears [leket, viz. Leviticus 19:9])] and let me gather [what was forgotten of] the sheaves [shikchah, viz. Deuteronomy 24:19] after the harvesters. And she came and stood from since the morning until now, and she has just taken a little respite in the house [of the field hands].
	And Boaz said to Ruth: Have you not heard, my daughter? Do not go to glean in another field, and also do not pass on from here, and here shall you cleave with my maidens.
	[Keep] your eyes on the field where they reap and go after them. Have I not commanded the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, [do not be ashamed, but] go to the vessels and drink of what the young men have drawn.
	And she fell on her face and bowed down to the ground and said to him: Why have I found favor in your eyes for you to take notice of me, when I am a stranger?
	And Boaz answered and he said to her: It was told to me all that you did with your mother-in-law after the death of your husband, and that you forsook your father and your mother and the land of your birth and went to a people that you did not know heretofore.
	May the L-rd repay your doing, and let your wage be full from the L-rd, the G-d of Israel, for having come to shelter yourself beneath His wings.
	And she said: Let me find favor in your eyes, my lord, for you have consoled me and you have spoken to the heart of your maidservant, though I am not as [worthy as] one of your maidservants.
	And Boaz said to her at mealtime: Draw hither and eat of the bread, and dip your crust in the vinegar [(a heat specific)]. And she sat at the side of the harvesters, and he reached out parched corn to her; and she ate, and she was sated, and she left over.
	And when she rose to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying: Let her also glean among the sheaves, and do not shame her.
	And also "forget" some handfuls for her, and leave (them) so that she might glean (them), and do not rebuke her.
	And she gleaned in the field until evening, and she beat out what she had gleaned; and it was about an ephah of barley.
	And she took (it) up and went into the city. And her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. And she brought (it) out and gave her what she had left over after having sated herself.
	And her mother-in-law said to her: Where did you glean today, and where did you work? May your benefactor be blessed. And she told her mother-in-law what she had done with him. And she said: The name of the man for whom I worked today is Boaz.
	And Na'ami said to her daughter-in-law: He is blessed of the L-rd for not having withheld his lovingkindness from the living [(by feeding them)] and (from) the dead [(by providing them with shrouds, etc.)]. And Na'ami said to her: The man is kin to us. He is one of our redeemers.
	And Ruth the Moavitess said: And he also said to me: With my young men shall you cleave, until they finish all of my reaping.
	And Na'ami said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law: It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his maidens, and that they [(his young men)] not meet you in another field.
	And she cleaved with the maidens of Boaz to glean until the end of the barley harvest and the wheat harvest, and she dwelt with her mother-in-law.

Chapter 3

	And Na'ami, her mother-in-law, said to her: My daughter, shall I now seek for you a resting place which shall be good for you?
	And now, is not Boaz our kinsman, with whose maidens you were? Behold, he winnows the barley threshing-floor tonight.
	Now wash yourself [(of the putrefaction of your idolatry), and anoint yourself [(with mitzvoth)], and place your [Sabbath] raiment upon you, and I [i.e., my merit] will go down to the threshing-floor [with you]. Do not reveal yourself to the man [(Boaz)] until he has finished eating and drinking.
	And it shall be, when he lies down, that you shall know the place where he lies; and you shall go in and uncover his feet and lie down, and he shall tell you what to do.
	And she said to her: All that you say to me shall I do.
	And she, [(inverting Na'ami's instructions), first] went down to the threshing-floor, and [then] she did [(the adorning)] as all that her mother-in-law had commanded her [(fearing that if she adorned herself first, she might be taken for a harlot)].
	And Boaz ate, and he drank, and his heart was goodly [(he studied Torah)], and he came to lie down at the end of the pile. And she came softly and uncovered his feet, and she lay down.
	And it was, in the middle of the night, that the man trembled, and he was seized [(she entwined her arms around him)]; and, behold, a woman lying at his feet.
	And he said: Who are you? And she said: I am Ruth, your maidservant. Spread your [garment-] corner over your maidservant [i.e., take me as your wife], for you are a redeemer [(to redeem our inheritance, that Na'ami and I must sell. Acquire it, and me along with it, so that the dead one's name will be perpetuated thereby. When I come to the field (of the inheritance), people will say: This was the wife of Machlon.)]
	And he said: Blessed are you of the L-rd, my daughter. Your later lovingkindness surpasses your first [(with your mother-in-law)], not to go after the young men, whether rich or poor.
	And now, my daughter, do not fear. All that you ask, I shall do for you. For it is known in all the gates of my people that you are a woman of valor.
	And now, though it be true that I am a redeemer [(being Na'ami's cousin)], there is also a redeemer closer than I [(Ploni Almoni, Na'ami's uncle [viz. 4:1])].
	Lie [(without a husband)] this night, and, it shall be in the morning, if he redeems you, good; and if he does not wish to redeem you, then I shall redeem you — I swear by the L-rd! Lie [here] until the morning.
	And she lay at his feet until the morning, and she arose before a man could recognize his neighbor, [(Boaz having prompted her to do so,)] saying [to himself]; it is not [to my honor] that it become known that a woman came to the threshing-floor.
	And he said: Take the shawl that is upon you and hold it. And she held it; and he measured six barley-corns and placed (them) thereon [(intimating the son of six blessings [the Messianic king] that is destined to arise from her [viz. Isaiah 11:2])], and he came to the city.
	And she came to her mother-in-law, and she said to her: Who are you, my daughter [i.e., are you single or married?] And she told her all that the man had done with her.
	And she said: He gave me these six barley-corns, saying: Do not come home empty-handed to your mother-in-law.
	And she said: Sit, my daughter, until you know how the thing will fall; for the man will not rest until he finishes the thing today.

Chapter 4

	And Boaz went up to the gate and he sat there, and behold, the redeemer passed by, of whom Boaz had spoken. And he said: Turn aside, sit here, Ploni Almoni [("the anonymous one," his name not being mentioned because he refused to redeem)]. And he turned aside and sat down.
	And he took ten men of the elders of the city and he said: Sit here. And they sat.
	And he said to the redeemer: The portion of the field which belonged to our brother Elimelech is being sold by Na'ami, who has returned from the field of Moav.
	And I said that I would tell you (of it), saying: Acquire (it) in the presence of the inhabitants and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem, redeem; and if he [i.e., you] will not redeem, tell me and I shall know. For there is no [close kin] other than you to redeem, and I, after you. And he said: I shall redeem.
	On the day you buy the field from Na'ami, you (must) buy it from Ruth the Moavitess, the wife of the deceased, to establish the name of the deceased upon his inheritance [(and she will not sell it to you unless you marry her)].
	And the redeemer said: I cannot redeem it unto me lest I destroy [i.e., blemish] my seed [(Ploni Almoni mistakenly assuming that "An Ammonite and a Moavite shall not come into the congregation of the L-rd" [Deuteronomy 23:4] applies to a Moavitess as well)]. You redeem my inheritance, for I cannot redeem it.
	And this was the custom of yore in Israel for redemption [(sale)] and for exchange [(substitution [chalifin])] to establish every thing: a man [(as a sign of acquisition)] would remove his shoe and give it to his neighbor. And this [became] the [manner of] attestation in Israel.
	And the redeemer said to Boaz: Acquire (it) for yourself. And he drew off his shoe.
	And Boaz said to the elders and to all of the people: You are witnesses this day that I have acquired all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Kilyon and Machlon from the hand of Na'ami.
	And also Ruth the Moavitess, the wife of Machlon, have I acquired for myself as a wife to establish the name of the deceased upon his inheritance, so that the name of the deceased not be cut off from his brothers and from the gate of his place [viz. 3:9] — you are witnesses this day.
	And all the people in the gate and the elders said: [We are] witnesses. May the L-rd make the woman who is coming to your house as Rachel and as Leah, the two of whom built the house of Israel; and be prosperous in Efrata, and be renowned in Bethlehem.
	And may your house be as that of Peretz [(from whom you descended)], whom Tamar begot of Judah, of the seed that the L-rd shall give you from this maiden.
	And Boaz took Ruth, and she was a wife to him, and he lived with her, and the L-rd granted her conception, and she bore a son.
	And the women said to Na'ami: Blessed is the L-rd, who did not leave you without a redeemer this day; and may his name be renowned in Israel.
	And may he be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of old age; for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, has borne him — she, being better to you than seven sons.
	And Na'ami took the child and laid it on her bosom, and she was his nurse.
	And the neighbor women gave him a name, saying: A son was born to Na'ami. And they named him "Oved"; he was the father of Yishai, who was the father of David.
	[(Having traced David to Ruth, he now traces him to Judah.)] And these are the generations of Peretz [(the son of Judah)]: Peretz begot Chetzron,
	And Chetzron begot Ram, and Ram begot Aminadav,
	And Aminadav begot Nachshon, and Nachshon begot Salmah,
	And Salmah begot Boaz, and Boaz begot Oved,
	And Oved begot Yishai, and Yishai begot David.