Ruth 3:17-18

3:17 She said, “He gave me these sixty pounds of barley, for he said to me, ¹  ‘Do not go to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’” ²  3:18 Then Naomi ³  said, “Stay put, ⁴  my daughter, until you know how the matter turns out. For the man will not rest until he has taken care of the matter today.”

¹ tc The MT (Kethib) lacks the preposition אֵלַי (’elay, “to me”) which is attested in the marginal reading (Qere).

² sn ‘Do not go to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’ In addition to being a further gesture of kindness on Boaz’s part, the gift of barley served as a token of his intention to fulfill his responsibility as family guardian. See R. L. Hubbard, Jr., Ruth (NICOT), 225-26, and F. W. Bush, Ruth, Esther (WBC), 187.

³ tn Heb “she”; the referent (Naomi) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁴ tn Heb “sit”; KJV “Sit still”; NAB “Wait here”; NLT “Just be patient.”