2:14 Later during the mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come here and have 15 some food! Dip your bread 16 in the vinegar!” So she sat down beside the harvesters. Then he handed 17 her some roasted grain. She ate until she was full and saved the rest. 18 2:15 When she got up to gather grain, Boaz told 19 his male servants, “Let her gather grain even among 20 the bundles! Don’t chase her off! 21 2:16 Make sure you pull out 22 ears of grain for her and drop them so she can gather them up. Don’t tell her not to!” 23 2:17 So she gathered grain in the field until evening. When she threshed 24 what she had gathered, it came to about thirty pounds 25 of barley!
2:18 She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw 26 how much grain 27 she had gathered. Then Ruth 28 gave her the roasted grain she had saved from mealtime. 29 2:19 Her mother-in-law asked her, 30 “Where did you gather grain today? Where did you work? May the one who took notice of you be rewarded!” 31 So Ruth 32 told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked. She said, “The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz.” 2:20 Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be rewarded by the Lord because he 33 has shown loyalty to the living on behalf of the dead!” 34 Then Naomi said to her, “This man is a close relative of ours; he is our guardian.” 35 2:21 Ruth the Moabite replied, “He even 36 told me, ‘You may go along beside my servants 37 until they have finished gathering all my harvest!’” 38 2:22 Naomi then said to her daughter-in-law Ruth, “It is good, my daughter, that you should go out to work with his female servants. 39 That way you will not be harmed, which could happen in another field.” 40 2:23 So Ruth 41 worked beside 42 Boaz’s female servants, gathering grain until the end of the barley harvest as well as the wheat harvest. 43 After that she stayed home with her mother-in-law. 44
1 tn Heb “answered and said to her” (so NASB). For stylistic reasons this has been translated as “replied to her.”
2 tn Heb “it has been fully reported to me.” The infinitive absolute here emphasizes the following finite verb from the same root. Here it emphasizes either the clarity of the report or its completeness. See R. L. Hubbard, Jr., Ruth (NICOT), 153, n. 6. Most English versions tend toward the nuance of completeness (e.g., KJV “fully been shewed”; NAB “a complete account”; NASB, NRSV “All that you have done”).
3 tn The vav (ו) consecutive construction here has a specifying function. This and the following clause elaborate on the preceding general statement and explain more specifically what she did for her mother-in-law.
4 tn Heb “yesterday and the third day.” This Hebrew idiom means “previously, in the past” (Exod 5:7,8,14; Exod 21:29,36; Deut 4:42; 19:4,6; Josh 3:4; 1 Sam 21:5; 2 Sam 3:17; 1 Chr 11:2).
5 tn Heb “repay your work”; KJV, ASV “recompense thy work.” The prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive of prayer (note the jussive form in the next clause).
6 tn Heb “may your wages be complete”; NCV “May your wages be paid in full.” The prefixed verbal form is a distinct jussive form, indicating that this is a prayer for blessing.
7 tn Heb “under whose wings you have sought shelter”; NIV, NLT “have come to take refuge.”
8 tn Heb “I am finding favor in your eyes.” In v. 10, where Ruth uses the perfect, she simply states the fact that Boaz is kind. Here the Hebrew text switches to the imperfect, thus emphasizing the ongoing attitude of kindness displayed by Boaz. Many English versions treat this as a request: KJV “Let me find favour in thy sight”; NAB “May I prove worthy of your kindness”; NIV “May I continue to find favor in your eyes.”
9 tn Heb “my master”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “my lord.”
10 tn Or “comforted” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV, NLT).
11 tn Heb “spoken to the heart of.” As F. W. Bush points out, the idiom here means “to reassure, encourage” (Ruth, Esther [WBC], 124).
12 tn Ruth here uses a word (שִׁפְחָה, shifkhah) that describes the lowest level of female servant (see 1 Sam 25:41). Note Ruth 3:9 where she uses the word אָמָה (’amah), which refers to a higher class of servant.
13 tn The imperfect verbal form of הָיָה (hayah) is used here. F. W. Bush shows from usage elsewhere that the form should be taken as future (Ruth, Esther [WBC], 124-25).
14 tn The disjunctive clause (note the pattern vav [ו] + subject + verb) is circumstantial (or concessive) here (“even though”).
15 tn Heb “eat” (so KJV, NRSV).
16 tn Heb “your portion”; NRSV “your morsel.”
17 tn The Hebrew verb צָבַט (tsavat) occurs only here in the OT. Cf. KJV, ASV “he reached her”; NASB “he served her”; NIV “he offered her”; NRSV “he heaped up for her.” For discussion of its meaning, including the etymological evidence, see BDB 840 s.v.; R. L. Hubbard, Jr., Ruth (NICOT), 174; and F. W. Bush, Ruth, Esther (WBC), 125-26.
18 tn Heb “and she ate and she was satisfied and she had some left over” (NASB similar).
19 tn Or “commanded” (so KJV, NASB, NCV).
20 tn Heb “even between”; NCV “even around.”
21 tn Heb “do not humiliate her”; cf. KJV “reproach her not”; NASB “do not insult her”; NIV “don’t embarrass her.” This probably refers to a verbal rebuke which would single her out and embarrass her (see v. 16). See R. L. Hubbard, Jr., Ruth (NICOT), 176-77, and F. W. Bush, Ruth, Esther (WBC), 126.
22 tn The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb for emphasis. Here שָׁלַל (shalal, “pull out”) is a homonym of the more common Hebrew verb meaning “to plunder.” An Arabic cognate is used of drawing a sword out of a scabbard (see BDB 1021 s.v.).
23 tn Heb “do not rebuke her” (so NASB, NRSV); CEV “don’t speak harshly to her”; NLT “don’t give her a hard time.”
24 tn Heb “she beat out” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV, NLT). Ruth probably used a stick to separate the kernels of grain from the husks. See O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 63.
25 tn Heb “there was an ephah.” An ephah was a dry measure, equivalent to one-tenth of a homer (see HALOT 43 s.v. אֵיפָה). An ephah was equivalent to a “bath,” a liquid measure. Jars labeled “bath” found at archaeological sites in Israel could contain approximately 5.8 gallons, or one-half to two-thirds of a bushel. Thus an ephah of barley would have weighed about 29 to 30 pounds (just over 13 kg). See R. L. Hubbard, Jr., Ruth (NICOT), 179.
26 tc MT vocalizes ותרא as the Qal verb וַתֵּרֶא (vattere’, “and she saw”), consequently of “her mother-in-law” as subject and “what she gathered” as the direct object: “her mother-in-law saw what she gathered.” A few medieval Hebrew
27 tn Heb “that which”; the referent (how much grain) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
28 tn Heb “she”; the referent (Ruth) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
29 tn Heb “and she brought out and gave to her that which she had left over from her being satisfied.”
30 tn Heb “said to her.” Since what follows is a question, the translation uses “asked her” here.
31 tn Or “blessed” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV). The same expression occurs in the following verse.
32 tn Heb “she”; the referent (Ruth) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
33 tn Many English versions translate this statement, “May he [Boaz] be blessed by the
34 tn Heb “to the living and the dead” (so KJV, NASB).
35 tn The Hebrew term גָּאַל (ga’al) is sometimes translated “redeemer” here (NIV “one of our kinsman-redeemers”; NLT “one of our family redeemers”). In this context Boaz, as a “redeemer,” functions as a guardian of the family interests who has responsibility for caring for the widows of his deceased kinsmen.
36 tn On the force of the phrase גָּם כִּי (gam ki) here, see F. W. Bush, Ruth, Esther (WBC), 138-39.
37 tn Heb “with the servants who are mine you may stay close.” The imperfect has a permissive nuance here. The word “servants” is masculine plural.
38 tn Heb “until they have finished all the harvest which is mine”; NIV “until they finish harvesting all my grain.”
39 tn Naomi uses the feminine form of the word “servant” (as Boaz did earlier, see v. 8), in contrast to Ruth’s use of the masculine form in the preceding verse. Since she is concerned for Ruth’s safety, she may be subtly reminding Ruth to stay with the female workers and not get too close to the men.
40 tn Heb “and they will not harm you in another field”; NRSV “otherwise you might be bothered in another field.”
41 tn Heb “she”; the referent (Ruth) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
42 tn Heb “and she stayed close with”; NIV, NRSV, CEV “stayed close to”; NCV “continued working closely with.”
43 sn Barley was harvested from late March through late April, wheat from late April to late May (O. Borowski, Agriculture in Ancient Israel, 88, 91).
44 tn Heb “and she lived with her mother-in-law” (so NASB). Some interpret this to mean that she lived with her mother-in-law while working in the harvest. In other words, she worked by day and then came home to Naomi each evening. Others understand this to mean that following the harvest she stayed at home each day with Naomi and no longer went out looking for work (see F. W. Bush, Ruth, Esther [WBC], 140). Others even propose that she lived away from home during this period, but this seems unlikely. A few Hebrew