Naomi

I am Naomi. Famine has driven my family from Bethlehem,
and we settle in pagan Moab.
My husband dies there, and my sons take Moabite wives,
Orphah and Ruth.

Ruth

I am Ruth.
Soon another disaster strikes; Naomi’s two sons die also,
leaving my sister-in-law Orphah and me as widows.

Prompter & Echoes

Three desolate widows now!

Naomi

Orphah and Ruth, the famine has passed in Bethlehem.
I’m going back home.

Ruth

Orphah and I will go with you, Naomi.

Naomi

No, Ruth. Go back, my daughters, to your mother’s house.
May the Lord deal kindly with you,
as you have dealt with my sons and me.

Ruth

We will go with you, Naomi, to your people. Please!

Prompter & Echoes

Don’t send us away!

Naomi

Ruth and Orphah, even if I bore sons,
would you wait until they grew up, to marry them?
Go back. The Lord’s hand has dealt harshly with me.

Prompter & Echoes

She is bitter!

Ruth

We all weep.
Orphah kisses Naomi and starts back to her parents,
but I cling to my mother-in-law.

Naomi

Ruth, Orphah has gone back to her people. Go with her.

Ruth

Do not urge me to leave you, Naomi.
Where you go I will go, and where you live I will live.
Your people shall be my people and your God shall be my God.
Where you die, I will die. May the Lord take my life,
if anything but death should part us.

Prompter & Echoes

Precious girl!

Naomi

Ruth, we have arrived in Bethlehem, but we have nothing to eat.

Ruth

It’s the beginning of barley harvest, Naomi.
I’ll go to the fields and glean grain
that the harvesters leave behind.

Prompter & Echoes

Lord, be gracious to her!

Boaz

I am Boaz.
I ask my workers, who is the young lady
that’s gleaning my field.
They say she’s Ruth, from Moab;
she has come to Israel with her mother-in law, Naomi.
Ruth has been kind to her.

Prompter & Echoes

Very kind!

Boaz

Ruth, my daughter, I am the owner of this field.
Do not glean other fields; stay with my reapers.
I have told them not to bother you.
Eat the food I provide for them.

Ruth

Oh, thank you, kind sir! May God bless you!

Boaz

Dear girl, may the God of Israel reward your kindness,
for you have come to seek refuge under his wings.

Ruth

Why have I found favor in your sight?
I am just another poor immigrant.

Prompter & Echoes

Destitute alien!

Boaz

Rise, my daughter. No one grovels before me.

Ruth

You are very gracious, sir.

Boaz

Reapers, let this young lady glean where she chooses.
Do not rebuke her. Let handfuls fall for her.

Prompter & Echoes

Drop handfuls on purpose!

Naomi

That night I am amazed.
Ruth, how’d you glean so much barley?

Ruth

I happened to be in Boaz’ field, and he had mercy on me.

Naomi

Boaz! May God be praised!
He is a relative; our Law gives him the right to redeem
my late husband’s property, to buy it back,
and preserve your dead husband’s inheritance.

Prompter & Echoes

And so he does!

Boaz

Ruth avoids the young reaper’s attentions,
and I admire her virtue.
After celebrating a good harvest, I take her as my wife.
She is precious, and shares my faith in Israel’s God.

Naomi

Ruth bears a son, Obed, who will later bear Jesse,
father of King David.

Prompter & Echoes

Ancestors of Jesus!