King James Version · The judges
Ruth 2
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And had a kinsman of her husband’s, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of ; and his name was . And the Moabitess said unto , Let me now go to the field, and ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find . And she said unto her, Go, my daughter. And she went, and came, and in the field after the reapers: and her hap was to on a part of the field belonging unto , who was of the kindred of . And, behold, came from Beth–lehem, and said unto the reapers, be with you. And they answered him, thee. Then said unto his servant that was set over the reapers, Whose damsel is this? And the servant that was set over the reapers answered and said, It is the Moabitish damsel that came back with out of the country of : And she said, I you, let me and gather after the reapers among the sheaves: so she came, and hath continued even from the morning until now, that she tarried a little in the house. Then said unto , Hearest thou not, my daughter? Go not to in another field, neither go from hence, but here by my maidens: Let thine eyes be on the field that they do reap, and go thou after them: have I not charged the young men that they shall not touch thee? and when thou art athirst, go unto the vessels, and drink of that which the young men have drawn. Then she fell on her , and bowed herself to the ground, and said unto him, Why have I found in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a ? And answered and said unto her, It hath fully been shewed me, all that thou hast done unto thy mother in law since the of thine husband: and how thou hast left thy and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore. thy work, and a full reward be given thee of of Israel, under whose thou art come to . Then she said, Let me find in thy sight, my ; for that thou hast comforted me, and for that thou hast spoken friendly unto thine handmaid, though I be not like unto one of thine handmaidens. And said unto her, At mealtime come thou hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And she sat beside the reapers: and he reached her parched corn, and she did eat, and was sufficed, and left. And when she was up to , commanded his young men, saying, Let her even among the sheaves, and her not: And let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her, and leave them, that she may them, and rebuke her not. So she in the field until even, and beat out that she had : 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 : and she brought forth, and gave to her that she had reserved after she was sufficed. And her mother in law said unto her, Where hast thou to day? and where wroughtest thou? be he that did take knowledge of thee. And she shewed her mother in law with whom she had wrought, and said, The man’s name with whom I wrought to day is . And said unto her daughter in law, be he of , who hath not left off his kindness to the living and to . And said unto her, The man is near of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen. And the Moabitess said, He said unto me also, Thou shalt keep by my young men, until they have ended all my harvest. And said unto her daughter in law, It is good, my daughter, that thou go out with his maidens, that they meet thee not in any other field. So she kept by the maidens of to unto the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest; and dwelt with her mother in law.
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · The judges, 1200 BC to 1050 BC ›
No central government and no standing army. The great empires are weak, which is precisely why Israel's troubles come from close neighbors: Moab, Ammon, Midian, and the newly arrived Philistines on the coast.
- Egypt
- Broken into competing power centres and no longer able to project force into Canaan. Its withdrawal is the single biggest reason this period has no imperial overlord.
- Mesopotamia
- Assyria exists but is dormant, hemmed in and looking east. The century that would have crushed a stateless Israel simply has not arrived yet.
- The coast
- The Philistines settle their five cities after arriving from the Aegean world, bringing Mycenaean-style pottery, a taste for pork, and an early advantage in ironworking. Further north the Phoenician ports of Tyre and Sidon start the trading expansion that will eventually give the alphabet to Greece.
- Further afield
- Greece has entered its dark age: the palaces are gone, Linear B is forgotten, and writing disappears from the Aegean for three centuries. In China the Zhou dynasty replaces the Shang in 1046 BC and issues the doctrine that heaven withdraws its mandate from unjust kings, an idea with an interesting resemblance to the book of Judges.