Ruth went to glean among the ears of grain so she and Naomi could have food. She sought permission to gather what was left behind after the reapers. The action is introduced in Ruth 2:2–3.
The story introduces Boaz as a prominent relative of Naomi’s late husband. Ruth, identified as a Moabite, asks Naomi for permission to go into the fields to pick up leftover grain behind harvest workers, hoping to find someone who will look kindly on her. Ruth goes out and ends up in the portion of field belonging to Boaz. This scene follows the return of Naomi and Ruth to Bethlehem at the start of the barley harvest (Ruth 1:22). The narrative now shifts from survival needs to a concrete plan for daily food, and it introduces a new character who is connected to Naomi’s family line.
Ruth 2:1–7 moves the story from famine survival to a workable way of getting food. The narrator tells the reader, before the characters act on it, that Naomi has a relative on her late husband’s side named Boaz, described as a prominent and well-resourced man (2:1). That advance notice signals that family ties and land ownership will matter.
A careful answer keeps the immediate passage, the book's argument, and the whole-Bible storyline together, so the question is answered in context instead of as a detached idea.
Start with Ruth 2:2-3, then read the surrounding section so the answer stays connected to the passage's flow.
2Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor. She said to her, Go, my daughter.
3She went, and came and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and she happened to come to the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.