A request for a redeemer
Conquest & Judges · Draft · BSB
Content revision: b2d8249d424ca209 · No editorial review date recorded
Date: During the harvest season · At barley winnowing
Naomi seeks a secure home for Ruth and sends her to Boaz at the threshing floor. Ruth asks him to spread his garment over her as a family redeemer. Boaz responds favorably but explains that a nearer redeemer must first have the opportunity.
The request develops the earlier image of shelter under the LORD’s wings. Boaz does not settle the legal matter privately that night; he promises to address the nearer relative’s claim. The chapter does not yet narrate their marriage. Ruth 2:23 summarizes both harvests; the winnowing scene need not be placed after the entire wheat harvest.
Primary Scripture
3:1 One day Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi said to her, “My daughter, should I not seek a resting place for you, that it may be well with you?
3:2 Now is not Boaz, with whose servant girls you have been working, a relative of ours? In fact, tonight he is winnowing barley on the threshing floor.
3:3 Therefore wash yourself, put on perfume, and wear your best clothes. Go down to the threshing floor, but do not let the man know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking.
3:4 When he lies down, note the place where he lies. Then go in and uncover his feet, and lie down, and he will explain to you what you should do.”
3:5 “I will do everything you say,” Ruth answered.
3:6 So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law had instructed her to do.
3:7 After Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. Then Ruth went in secretly, uncovered his feet, and lay down.
3:8 At midnight, Boaz was startled, turned over, and there lying at his feet was a woman!
3:9 “Who are you?” he asked. “I am your servant Ruth,” she replied. “Spread the corner of your garment over me, for you are a kinsman-redeemer.”
3:10 Then Boaz said, “May the LORD bless you, my daughter. You have shown more kindness now than before, because you have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor.
3:11 And now do not be afraid, my daughter. I will do for you whatever you request, since all my fellow townspeople know that you are a woman of noble character.
3:12 Yes, it is true that I am a kinsman-redeemer, but there is a redeemer nearer than I.
3:13 Stay here tonight, and in the morning, if he wants to redeem you, good. Let him redeem you. But if he does not want to redeem you, as surely as the LORD lives, I will. Now lie here until morning.”
3:14 So she lay down at his feet until morning, but she got up before anyone else could recognize her. Then Boaz said, “Do not let it be known that a woman came to the threshing floor.”
3:15 And he told her, “Bring the shawl you are wearing and hold it out.” When she did so, he poured in six measures of barley and placed it on her. Then he went into the city.
3:16 When Ruth returned to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked her, “How did it go, my daughter?” Then Ruth told her all that Boaz had done for her.
3:17 And she said, “He gave me these six measures of barley, for he said, ‘Do not go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’”
3:18 “Wait, my daughter,” said Naomi, “until you find out how things go, for he will not rest unless he has resolved the matter today.”
Related Scripture
Boaz’s earlier blessing about refuge gives context to Ruth’s request for his garment.
The provision for a relative redeeming family land helps frame the next chapter, without explaining every detail of Ruth’s marriage custom.
Location evidence
Bethlehem anchors the story, but the threshing floor is not located. The pin does not claim that the meeting took place at the town center.
Event map marker: Identified site; [longitude, latitude] = [35.207639, 31.704306]. This is a teaching marker, not an exact event venue.
Bethlehem in Judah: Identified site. Coordinates [longitude, latitude]: [35.207639, 31.704306]. Classification source: editorial.
OpenBible · Bethlehem in Judah
OpenBible · Bethlehem in Judah
For the class
How do Ruth’s initiative and Boaz’s response join kindness with responsibility?
Interpretation and reuse
Narrative order is a reading arrangement, not a proven chronology. Dates retain their stated uncertainty. An identified locality does not establish the exact venue or prove an event. Region extents and routes are illustrative, not surveyed boundaries or ancient roads. Draft material has not completed editorial review.
Record source: editorial (content/authored/conquest-judges.json)
Place coordinates from OpenBible.info Bible Geocoding Data, CC BY 4.0.
Teaching stops, summaries and regional extents are original editorial content of this atlas.
Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain. https://berean.bible/licensing.htm