drave out the nations from before us, for He is the Lord our God."

Joshua said, "The Lord is a jealous God; if ye forsake Him and serve other gods He will consume you, and do you hurt, as He hath done you good."

And the people answered again, “Nay; but we will serve the Lord."

Then Joshua said, "Ye are witnesses against yourselves that ye have chosen the Lord to serve Him." And the people said, "We are witnesses."

So Joshua made a covenant with the people; and he wrote these words in a book, and laid the book up with the book of the law. Also he took a great stone and set it up under an oak that was by the tabernacle of the Lord, that it might be a memorial of this covenant for ever. "This stone," he said, "shall be a witness unto us; for it hath heard all the words of the Lord which He spake unto us. It shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God."

Then Joshua let the people go to their own homes. And after this he died, being an hundred and ten years old. And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath-serah.

THE STORY OF RUTH

the one was Orpah,

And after ten years Naomi was bereaved Then she arose with her own country, for upon His people

IN the days of the Judges, when Eli was high-priest, there was a famine in the land. So it came to pass that a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the land of Moab, he and his wife and his sons. The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion. And they came into the country of Moab and sojourned there. And Elimelech died, and Mahlon and Chilion took to themselves wives of the women of Moab; the name of and the name of the other Ruth. Mahlon and Chilion died, and both of her husband and sons. her daughters-in-law to return to she had heard that God had looked and given them bread. And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, " Go, return each to her mother's house; the Lord deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt kindly with the dead. The Lord grant that each of you may find rest in the house of her husband." Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voice and wept, and said to her, "Surely we will return with thee to thy people." But Naomi answered, "Return home, my daughters. For I cannot help you, for the Lord hath dealt hardly with me." And they wept again, and Orpah departed, after she had kissed her mother-in-law,

but Ruth clave to her. Then Naomi said to her, "Behold thy sister-in-law hath gone back to her people and to her gods; do thou go after her." But Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave thee, nor to return from following after thee; for whither thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge; thy people shall

when thou diest The Lord do so death part thee

be my people, and thy God my God; I will die, and there will I be buried. to me, and more also, if aught but and me." And when Naomi saw that Ruth was steadfast in her purpose, she sought no more to persuade her. So these two went on till they came to Bethlehem. And when they came, all Bethlehem was greatly moved, for they asked, "Can this be Naomi ?" She said to

them, "Call me not Naomi, but call me Mara,1 for the Lord hath dealt very bitterly with me. He sent me forth full, and He hath brought me back again empty." Now the time when Naomi and Ruth came to Bethlehem was at the beginning of barleyharvest.

3

There was in Bethlehem a certain man that was a kinsman of Elimelech. His name was Boaz, and he was very rich. Ruth said to her mother-in-law, "Let me now go to the field and glean ears of corn 2 after any one in whose sight I may find favour." And Naomi said to her, "Go, my daughter." So she went and gleaned in the field, after the reapers; and her hap was to light on that portion of the field which belonged to the man Boaz. And behold Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said to his reapers, "The Lord be with you!" and they answered him, "The Lord bless thee!" Then Boaz said to the servant that was over the reapers, "Whose damsel is this?" The man said, "This is the Moabitish damsel that came back with Naomi out of the land of Moab. She said to me, 'Let me glean after the reapers.' So she came, and hath continued from the morning until now, and hath scarcely rested at all." Then Boaz said to her, "Go not to glean in another field; abide here, keeping close to my maidens. None shall harm thee. And when thou art thirsty, go to the vessels, and drink of that which the men have drawn." When she heard this, she fell on her face before him on the ground, and said, "Why dost thou take notice of me, seeing that I am but a

1 Naomi means "grace," Mara, "bitterness."

2 It should be noted that only the poorest class in Palestine used barley for food. It is a proof, therefore, of the poverty of the two women that Ruth should be glad to glean in a barley-field.

3 The field was a common field, divided into portions, but without hedge.

stranger?" Boaz answered, "I have heard all that thou hast done to thy mother-in-law, and how that thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and hast come to a people which before thou knewest not. The Lord, under whose wings thou art come to seek refuge, recompense thee for it!"

And when the reapers rested for their meal, Boaz

said to her, "Come hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar.1

So she sat beside the reapers, and Boaz reached to her grain that had been roasted in the fire, and she ate till she was satisfied; but there remained something over from her portion. And when she rose up to glean again, Boaz said to his men, "Let her glean even

1 The liquor was light and sour wine of the country, the Latin posca. Compare Matt. xxvii. 48.