us a city, and a tower, whose top may reach
unto heaven, and let us make us a name; lest we be scattered abroad
upon the face of the whole earth."

And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the
children of men builded. And the Lord said, "Behold, they are one
people, and they have all one language; and this is what they begin to
do: and now nothing will be withholden from them, which they purpose
to do. Come, let us go down, and there confound their language, that
they may not understand one another's speech."

So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the
earth: and they left off building the city. Therefore was the name of
it called Babel (that is, confusion); because the Lord did there
confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord
scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

{33}

TALES OF BRAVE WOMEN

{34}

{35}

RUTH

PERSONS OF THE STORY.

_Naomi, Elimelch_,
_Hebrews who went to live in Moab_.

_Mahlon, Chilion_,
_Sons of Naomi and Elimelech_.

_Ruth, Orpah_,
_Daughters-in-law of Naomi and Elimelech_.

Boaz,
_A wealthy farmer of Beth-lehem and kinsman of Naomi_.

_Reapers_.
_Gleaners_.
_A second kinsman of Naomi_.

PLACE OF THE STORY.

_Moab_.

_Beth-lehem of Judah_.

RUTH.

(One of the sweetest stories of the Bible is that of Ruth the
Moabitess. Many of the pages of the Old Testament are filled
with the noise and tumult of battle, but this tale breathes only of
peace and calm, of sunny harvest days when fair Ruth gleaned in,
the fields around the old town of Beth-lehem.)

And it came to pass in the days when the judges judged, that there was
a famine in the land. And a certain man of Beth-lehem-judah went to
sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.
And the name {36} of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife
Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, men of
Beth-lehem-judah. And they came into the country of Moab, and
continued there.

And Elimelech Naomi's husband died; and she was left, and her two
sons. And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the
one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there
about ten years.

And Mahlon and Chilion died both of them; and the woman was bereft of
her two children and of her husband. Then she arose with her
daughters-in-law, that she might re