路得記2:14-23

2:14 到了吃飯的時候，波阿斯對路得說：「你到這裡來吃餅，將餅蘸在醋裡。」路得就在收割的人旁邊坐下；他們把烘了的穗子遞給她。她吃飽了，還有餘剩的。
2:15 她起來又拾取麥穗，波阿斯吩咐僕人說：「她就是在捆中拾取麥穗，也可以容她，不可羞辱她；
2:16 並要從捆裡抽出些來，留在地下任她拾取，不可叱嚇她。」
2:17 這樣，路得在田間拾取麥穗，直到晚上，將所拾取的打了，約有一伊法大麥。
2:18 她就把所拾取的帶進城去給婆婆看，又把她吃飽了所剩的給了婆婆。
2:19 婆婆問她說：「你今日在哪裡拾取麥穗，在哪裡做工呢？願那顧卹你的得福。」路得就告訴婆婆說：「我今日在一個名叫波阿斯的人那裡做工。」
2:20 拿俄米對兒婦說：「願那人蒙耶和華賜福，因為他不斷地恩待活人死人。」拿俄米又說：「那是我們本族的人，是一個至近的親屬。」
2:21 摩押女子路得說：「他對我說：『你要緊隨我的僕人拾取麥穗，直等他們收完了我的莊稼。』」
2:22 拿俄米對兒婦路得說：「女兒啊，你跟著他的使女出去，不叫人遇見你在別人田間，這才為好。」
2:23 於是路得與波阿斯的使女常在一處拾取麥穗，直到收完了大麥和小麥。路得仍與婆婆同住。

¹⁴ At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar.”
When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over. ¹⁵ As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, “Let her gather among the sheaves and don’t reprimand her. ¹⁶ Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don’t rebuke her.”
¹⁷ So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah.^{[a] 18} She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over after she had eaten enough.
¹⁹ Her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!”
Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. “The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz,” she said.
²⁰ “The Lord bless him!” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. “He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.” She added, “That man is our close relative; he is one of our guardian-redeemers.^[b]”
²¹ Then Ruth the Moabite said, “He even said to me, ‘Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain.’”
²² Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with the women who work for him, because in someone else’s field you might be harmed.”
²³ So Ruth stayed close to the women of Boaz to glean until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.

****************

    婆婆有意讓路得與波阿斯在一起，所以對她說：「女兒啊，你跟著他的使女出去，不叫人遇見你在別人田間，這才為好。」

    雖然是人的作為，也是上帝的心意。

路得記2:1-13

2:1 拿俄米的丈夫以利米勒的親族中，有一個人名叫波阿斯，是個大財主。
2:2 摩押女子路得對拿俄米說：「容我往田間去，我蒙誰的恩，就在誰的身後拾取麥穗。」拿俄米說：「女兒啊，你只管去。」
2:3 路得就去了，來到田間，在收割的人身後拾取麥穗。她恰巧到了以利米勒本族的人波阿斯那塊田裡。
2:4 波阿斯正從伯利恆來，對收割的人說：「願耶和華與你們同在！」他們回答說：「願耶和華賜福與你！」
2:5 波阿斯問監管收割的僕人說：「那是誰家的女子？」
2:6 監管收割的僕人回答說：「是那摩押女子，跟隨拿俄米從摩押地回來的。
2:7 她說：『請你容我跟著收割的人拾取打捆剩下的麥穗。』她從早晨直到如今，除了在屋子裡坐一會兒，常在這裡。」
2:8 波阿斯對路得說：「女兒啊，聽我說，不要往別人田裡拾取麥穗，也不要離開這裡，要常與我使女們在一處。
2:9 我的僕人在那塊田收割，你就跟著他們去。我已經吩咐僕人不可欺負你；你若渴了，就可以到器皿那裡喝僕人打來的水。」
2:10 路得就俯伏在地叩拜，對他說：「我既是外邦人，怎麼蒙你的恩，這樣顧卹我呢？」
2:11 波阿斯回答說：「自從你丈夫死後，凡你向婆婆所行的，並你離開父母和本地，到素不認識的民中，這些事人全都告訴我了。
2:12 願耶和華照你所行的賞賜你。你來投靠耶和華─以色列上帝的翅膀下，願你滿得他的賞賜。」
2:13 路得說：「我主啊，願在你眼前蒙恩。我雖然不及你的一個使女，你還用慈愛的話安慰我的心。」

Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side, a man of standing from the clan of Elimelek, whose name was Boaz.

² And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor.”
Naomi said to her, “Go ahead, my daughter.” ³ So she went out, entered a field and began to glean behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek.
⁴ Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, “The Lord be with you!”
“The Lord bless you!” they answered.
⁵ Boaz asked the overseer of his harvesters, “Who does that young woman belong to?”
⁶ The overseer replied, “She is the Moabite who came back from Moab with Naomi. ⁷ She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.’ She came into the field and has remained here from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter.”
⁸ So Boaz said to Ruth, “My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another field and don’t go away from here. Stay here with the women who work for me. ⁹ Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the women. I have told the men not to lay a hand on you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.”
¹⁰ At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She asked him, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?”
¹¹ Boaz replied, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. ¹² May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”
¹³ “May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord,” she said. “You have put me at ease by speaking kindly to your servant—though I do not have the standing of one of your servants.”

****************

    故事的男主角波阿斯出現了，做這特別說他是大財主，表示他有很多田地。所以路得運氣很好，遇到了大老闆！而且這個大老闆很照顧她，因為她對婆婆的孝心傳開了，獲得這位大老闆的讚許。大老闆用祝福的話向她說：「願耶和華照你所行的賞賜你。你來投靠耶和華─以色列上帝的翅膀下，願你滿得他的賞賜。」

    然而路得也很懂得禮貌，很得體的回答他：「我主啊，願在你眼前蒙恩。我雖然不及你的一個使女，你還用慈愛的話安慰我的心。」

路得記1:19-22

1:19 於是二人同行，來到伯利恆。她們到了伯利恆，合城的人就都驚訝。婦女們說：「這是拿俄米嗎？」
1:20 拿俄米對他們說：「不要叫我拿俄米（就是甜的意思），要叫我瑪拉（就是苦的意思），因為全能者使我受了大苦。
1:21 我滿滿地出去，耶和華使我空空地回來。耶和華降禍與我；全能者使我受苦。既是這樣，你們為何還叫我拿俄米呢？」
1:22 拿俄米和她兒婦摩押女子路得，從摩押地回來到伯利恆，正是動手割大麥的時候。

¹⁹ So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”
²⁰ “Don’t call me Naomi,^[b]” she told them. “Call me Mara,^[c] because the Almighty^[d] has made my life very bitter. ²¹ I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted^[e] me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”
²² So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.

****************

    拿俄米在此感嘆自己的命運，甚至想改名字，由甜改成苦！

路得記1:15-18

1:15 拿俄米說：「看哪，你嫂子已經回她本國和她所拜的神那裡去了，你也跟著你嫂子回去吧！」
1:16 路得說：「不要催我回去不跟隨你。你往哪裡去，我也往那裡去；你在哪裡住宿，我也在那裡住宿；你的國就是我的國，你的上帝就是我的上帝。
1:17 你在哪裡死，我也在那裡死，也葬在那裡。除非死能使你我相離！不然，願耶和華重重地降罰與我。」
1:18 拿俄米見路得定意要跟隨自己去，就不再勸她了。

¹⁵ “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.”
¹⁶ But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. ¹⁷ Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” ¹⁸ When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.

****************

    路得不因嫂嫂離開婆婆，自己就離開，反倒更堅持要與婆婆同在！

路得記1:6-14

1:6 她就與兩個兒婦起身，要從摩押地歸回；因為她在摩押地聽見耶和華眷顧自己的百姓，賜糧食與他們。
1:7 於是她和兩個兒婦起行離開所住的地方，要回猶大地去。
1:8 拿俄米對兩個兒婦說：「你們各人回娘家去吧。願耶和華恩待你們，像你們恩待已死的人與我一樣！
1:9 願耶和華使你們各在新夫家中得平安！」於是拿俄米與她們親嘴。她們就放聲而哭，
1:10 說：「不然，我們必與你一同回你本國去。」
1:11 拿俄米說：「我女兒們哪，回去吧！為何要跟我去呢？我還能生子作你們的丈夫嗎？
1:12 我女兒們哪，回去吧！我年紀老邁，不能再有丈夫；即或說，我還有指望，今夜有丈夫可以生子，
1:13 你們豈能等著他們長大呢？你們豈能等著他們不嫁別人呢？我女兒們哪，不要這樣。我為你們的緣故甚是愁苦，因為耶和華伸手攻擊我。」
1:14 兩個兒婦又放聲而哭，俄珥巴與婆婆親嘴而別，只是路得捨不得拿俄米。

⁶ When Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. ⁷ With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.
⁸ Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. ⁹ May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.”
Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud ¹⁰ and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.”
¹¹ But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? ¹² Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons— ¹³ would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!”
¹⁴ At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.

****************

    拿俄米為了糧食的需要，就要回到伯利恆！然而大媳婦離開他，小媳婦路得卻捨不得她！