Ruth 3:8

3:8 In the middle of the night he was startled ¹  and turned over. ²  Now ³  he saw a woman ⁴  lying beside him! ⁵ 

Ruth 3:16

3:16 and she returned to her mother-in-law.

Ruth Returns to Naomi

When Ruth returned to her mother-in-law, Naomi ⁶  asked, ⁷  “How did things turn out for you, ⁸  my daughter?” Ruth ⁹  told her about all the man had done for her. ¹⁰ 

Ruth 3:18

3:18 Then Naomi ¹¹  said, “Stay put, ¹²  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.”

Ruth 1:2

1:2 (Now the man’s name was Elimelech, ¹³  his wife was Naomi, ¹⁴  and his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. ¹⁵  They were of the clan of Ephrath ¹⁶  from Bethlehem in Judah.) They entered the region of Moab and settled there. ¹⁷ 

Ruth 2:19-20

2:19 Her mother-in-law asked her, ¹⁸  “Where did you gather grain today? Where did you work? May the one who took notice of you be rewarded!” ¹⁹  So Ruth ²⁰  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 ²¹  has shown loyalty to the living on behalf of the dead!” ²²  Then Naomi said to her, “This man is a close relative of ours; he is our guardian.” ²³ 

¹ tn Heb “trembled, shuddered”; CEV, NLT “suddenly woke up.” Perhaps he shivered because he was chilled.

² tn The verb לָפַת (lafat) occurs only here, Job 6:18, and Judg 16:29 (where it seems to mean “grab hold of”). Here the verb seems to carry the meaning “bend, twist, turn,” like its Arabic cognate (see HALOT 533 s.v. לפת, and F. W. Bush, Ruth, Esther [WBC], 163).

³ tn Heb “and behold” (so KJV, NASB). The narrator invites the reader to view the situation through Boaz’s eyes.

⁴ sn Now he saw a woman. The narrator writes from Boaz’s perspective. Both the narrator and the reader know the night visitor is Ruth, but from Boaz’s perspective she is simply “a woman.”

⁵ tn Heb “[at] his legs.” See the note on the word “legs” in v. 4.

⁶ tn Heb “she”; the referent (Naomi) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁷ tn Heb “said.” Since what follows is a question, the present translation uses “asked” here.

⁸ tn Heb “Who are you?” In this context Naomi is clearly not asking for Ruth’s identity. Here the question has the semantic force “Are you his wife?” See R. L. Hubbard, Jr., Ruth (NICOT), 223-24, and F. W. Bush, Ruth, Esther (WBC), 184-85.

⁹ tn Heb “she”; the referent (Ruth) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁰ sn All that the man had done. This would have included his promise to marry her and his gift of barley.

¹¹ tn Heb “she”; the referent (Naomi) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹² tn Heb “sit”; KJV “Sit still”; NAB “Wait here”; NLT “Just be patient.”

¹⁶ sn The name “Elimelech” literally means “My God [is] king.” The narrator’s explicit identification of his name seems to cast him in a positive light.

¹⁷ tn Heb “and the name of his wife [was] Naomi.” This has been simplified in the translation for stylistic reasons.

¹⁸ tn Heb “and the name[s] of his two sons [were] Mahlon and Kilion.”

¹⁹ tn Heb “[They were] Ephrathites.” Ephrathah is a small village (Ps 132:6) in the vicinity of Bethlehem (Gen 35:16), so close in proximity that it is often identified with the larger town of Bethlehem (Gen 35:19; 48:7; Ruth 4:11; Mic 5:2 [MT 5:1]; HALOT 81 s.v. אֶפְרָתָה); see F. W. Bush, Ruth, Esther (WBC), 64. The designation “Ephrathites” might indicate that they were residents of Ephrathah. However, the adjectival form אֶפְרָתִים (ephratim, “Ephrathites”) used here elsewhere refers to someone from the clan of Ephrath (cf. 1 Chr 4:4) which lived in the region of Bethlehem: “Now David was the son of an Ephrathite from Bethlehem in Judah whose name was Jesse” (1 Sam 17:12; cf. Mic 5:2 [MT 5:1]). So it is more likely that the virtually identical expression here – “Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah” – refers to the clan of Ephrath in Bethlehem (see R. L. Hubbard, Jr., Ruth [NICOT], 91).

²⁰ tn Heb “and were there”; KJV “continued there”; NRSV “remained there”; TEV “were living there.”

²¹ tn Heb “said to her.” Since what follows is a question, the translation uses “asked her” here.

²² tn Or “blessed” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV). The same expression occurs in the following verse.

²³ tn Heb “she”; the referent (Ruth) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

²⁶ tn Many English versions translate this statement, “May he [Boaz] be blessed by the Lord, who has not abandoned his loyalty to the living and dead.” In this case the antecedent of אֲשֶׁר (’asher, “who”) would be the immediately preceding “the Lord.” However, this understanding of the construction is not accurate. The antecedent of אֲשֶׁר is Boaz, not the Lord. Elsewhere when אֲשֶׁר follows the blessing formula בָּרוּךְ (barukh, Qal passive participle) + proper name/pronoun, it always introduces the reason the recipient of the blessing deserves a reward. (For this reason one could analyze אֲשֶׁר as a causal conjunction in this construction.) If אֲשֶׁר refers to the Lord here, then this verse, unlike others using the construction, gives no such reason for the recipient being blessed. 2 Sam 2:5, which provides the closest structural parallel to Ruth 2:20, supports this interpretation: בְּרֻכִים אַתֶּם לַיהוָה אֲשֶׁר עֲשִׂיתֶם הַחֶסֶד הַזֶּה עִם־אֲדֹנֵיכֶם עִם־שָׁאוּל, “May you [plural] be blessed by the Lord, you who [plural]/because you [plural] have extended such kindness to your master Saul.” Here אֲשֶׁר refers back to the second plural pronoun אַתֶּם (’atem, “you”) in the formula, as the second plural verb עֲשִׂיתֶם(’asitem) after אֲשֶׁר indicates. Though יְהוָה (yÿhvah) is in closer proximity to אֲשֶׁר, it is not the antecedent. The evidence suggests that Ruth 2:20 should be translated and interpreted as follows: “May he [Boaz] be blessed by the Lord, he who [i.e., Boaz]/because he [i.e., Boaz] has not abandoned his loyalty to the living and dead.” Cf. NIV, NCV, CEV, NLT. See B. A. Rebera, “Yahweh or Boaz? Ruth 2.20 Reconsidered,” BT 36 (1985): 317-27, and F. W. Bush, Ruth, Esther (WBC), 134-36. By caring for the impoverished widows’ physical needs, Boaz had demonstrated loyalty to both the living (the impoverished widows) and the dead (their late husbands). See R. B. Chisholm, From Exegesis to Exposition, 72.

²⁷ tn Heb “to the living and the dead” (so KJV, NASB).

²⁸ 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.