Ruth
King James Version · 4 chapters · 85 verses · Old Testament
A quiet story in a violent time
Four chapters set during the judges, and a complete change of air. A famine drives an Israelite family to Moab, where the father and both sons die, leaving Naomi with two foreign daughters-in-law. One goes home. Ruth will not, and her refusal is one of the great speeches in scripture. Back in Bethlehem she gleans in a field belonging to Boaz, a relative with the right to redeem the family land and the widow with it. He does. The closing verses tell you why the story was kept: Ruth the Moabitess is the great-grandmother of David.