“If a young ¹  woman who is still living ²  in her father’s house makes a vow to the Lord or places herself under an obligation,

Then the father and mother of the young woman must produce the evidence of virginity ¹  for the elders of the city at the gate.

The young woman’s father must say to the elders, “I gave my daughter to this man and he has rejected ¹  her.

But if the man came across ¹  the engaged woman in the field and overpowered her and raped ²  her, then only the rapist ³  must die.

for the man ¹  met her in the field and the engaged woman cried out, but there was no one to rescue her.

But the woman hid the two men ¹  and replied, “Yes, these men were clients of mine, ²  but I didn’t know where they came from.

The Lord’s angelic ¹  messenger appeared to the woman and said to her, “You ²  are infertile and childless, ³  but you will conceive and have a son.

The woman ran at once and told her husband, ¹  “Come quickly, ²  the man who visited ³  me the other day has appeared to me!”

The woman arrived back at daybreak and was sprawled out on the doorstep of the house where her master ¹  was staying until it became light. ² 

The Levite, ¹  the husband of the murdered woman, spoke up, “I and my concubine stopped in ²  Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin ³  to spend the night.

But we can’t allow our daughters to marry them, ¹  for the Israelites took an oath, saying, ‘Whoever gives a woman to a Benjaminite will be destroyed!’ ² 

Then Naomi’s two sons, Mahlon and Kilion, also died. ¹  So the woman was left all alone – bereaved of her two children ²  as well as her husband!

The servant in charge of the harvesters replied, “She’s the young Moabite woman who came back with Naomi from the region of Moab.

Now, my dear, don’t worry! ¹  I intend to do for you everything you propose, ²  for everyone in the village ³  knows that you are a worthy woman. ⁴ 

So she slept beside him ¹  until morning. She woke up while it was still dark. ²  Boaz thought, ³  “No one must know that a woman visited the threshing floor.” ⁴ 

May your family ¹  become like the family of Perez ²  – whom Tamar bore to Judah – through the descendants ³  the Lord gives you by this young woman.”

Don’t consider your servant a wicked woman, ¹  for until now I have spoken from my deep pain and anguish.”

She said, “May I, your servant, find favor in your sight.” So the woman went her way and got something to eat. ¹  Her face no longer looked sad.

She said, “Just as surely as you are alive, my lord, I am the woman who previously stood here with you in order to pray to the Lord.

Now the woman ¹  had a well-fed calf ²  at her home that she quickly slaughtered. Taking some flour, she kneaded bread and baked it without leaven.