Ruth 3

Bishops^{(i) 1} Then Naomi her mother in lawe sayde vnto her: My daughter, shal I not seke rest for thee, yt thou mayest prosper ² And is not Booz our kinsman, with whose maydens thou wast? Beholde, he winnoweth barlie to night in the thresshing floore ³ Wasshe thy selfe therfore, and annoynt thee, and put thy rayment vpon thee, & get thee downe to the floore: but let not the man knoweof thee, vntill he haue left eating and drincking ⁴ And when he goeth to sleepe, marke the place where he layeth him downe, and then go and lyft vp the clothes that are on his feete, & lay thee downe there: and he shall tel thee what thou shalt do ⁵ And she aunswered her: All that thou biddest me, I will do ⁶ And she went downe vnto the floore, and dyd according to al that her mother in lawe bad her ⁷ And when Booz had eaten and drunken, & cheared his heart, he went to lye downe at the ende of the heape of corne: and she came softly, and lift vp the clothes of his feete, and layed her downe ⁸ And at midnight, the man was afraide, and caught holde: and beholde, a woman lay at his feete ⁹ And he sayde: What art thou? She aunswered, I am Ruth thyne handmayde: Spreade the wing of thy [garment] ouer thyne handmayde, for thou art the kinsman ¹⁰ He sayde: Blessed be thou in the Lord my daughter, for thou hast shewed more goodnesse in the latter ende, then at the beginning, inasmuche as thou folowedst not young men, whether they were poore or riche ¹¹ And nowe my daughter feare not, I will do to the all that thou requirest: for all the citie of my people doth know, that thou art a woman of vertue ¹² And it is true that I am of thy next kinne, howbeit there is one nier then I ¹³ Tary this night, and when morning is come, if he wil perfourme the part of a kinsman vnto thee, it is good, let him do the kinsmans part: but if he wyl not do the kinsmans part, then wyl I do the duetie of a kinsman, as the Lorde liueth: sleepe vntil the morning ¹⁴ And she lay at his feete vntill the morning: and she arose vp before one coulde knowe another. And he sayde: Let no man knowe that there came any woman into the floore ¹⁵ And he sayde againe: Bring the mantel that thou hast vpon thee, & holde it. And when she held it, he mette in sixe measures of barlye, and layde it on her: And she gat her into the citie ¹⁶ And when she came in, to her mother in lawe, she sayde: Who art thou, my daughter? And she tolde her all that the man had done to her ¹⁷ And sayde: These sixe measures of barlye gaue he me, and sayde: Thou shalt not come emptie vnto thy mother in lawe ¹⁸ Then sayde she: My daughter, sit still vntil thou knowe howe the matter will fall: for the man will not be in rest, vntill he haue finished the thing this same day