RUTH knelt by the pile of barley stalks she had gathered during the day. Evening was descending on the fields around Bethlehem, and many workers were already wending their way up to the gate of the little city perched atop a nearby ridge. Ruth’s muscles surely protested the long day’s labor, for she had been working steadily since the morning. Still she kept at it, swinging a small rod or a flail down onto the stalks to loosen the grains. All in all, it had been a good day​—better than she could ever have hoped for.

By the time Ruth finished beating out the grain and gathering it all up, she found that she had gleaned about an ephah measure, or 20 dry quarts (22 L), of barley. Her load may have weighed some 30 pounds (14 kg)! She hoisted it, perhaps bundling it in a cloth and carrying it on her head, and then made her way to Bethlehem in the gathering darkness.​—Ruth 2:17.