Ruth 2:8-9

2:8 So Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen carefully, ¹  my dear! ²  Do not leave to gather grain in another field. You need not ³  go beyond the limits of this field. You may go along beside ⁴  my female workers. ⁵  2:9 Take note of ⁶  the field where the men ⁷  are harvesting and follow behind with the female workers. ⁸  I will tell the men ⁹  to leave you alone. ¹⁰  When you are thirsty, you may go to ¹¹  the water jars ¹²  and drink some of the water ¹³  the servants draw.” ¹⁴ 

[2:8]  ¹ tn Heb “Have you not heard?” The idiomatic, negated rhetorical question is equivalent to an affirmation (see F. W. Bush, Ruth, Esther [WBC], 119, and GKC 474 §150.e).

[2:8]  ² tn Heb “my daughter.” This form of address is a mild form of endearment, perhaps merely rhetorical. It might suggest that Boaz is older than Ruth, but not necessarily significantly so. A few English versions omit it entirely (e.g., TEV, CEV).

[2:8]  ³ tn The switch from the negative particle אַל (’al, see the preceding statement, “do not leave”) to לֹא (lo’) may make this statement more emphatic. It may indicate that the statement is a policy applicable for the rest of the harvest (see v. 21).

[2:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “and thus you may stay close with.” The imperfect has a permissive nuance here.

[2:8]  ⁵ sn The female workers would come along behind those who cut the grain and bundle it up. Staying close to the female workers allowed Ruth to collect more grain than would normally be the case (see O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 61, and F. W. Bush, Ruth, Esther [WBC], 121).

[2:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “let your eyes be upon” (KJV, NASB similar).

[2:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “they.” The verb is masculine plural, indicating that the male workers are the subject here.

[2:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “and go after them.” The pronominal suffix (“them”) is feminine plural, indicating that the female workers are referred to here.

[2:9]  ⁹ tn Male servants are in view here, as the masculine plural form of the noun indicates (cf. KJV, NAB, NRSV “the young men”).

[2:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Have I not commanded the servants not to touch [i.e., “harm”] you?” The idiomatic, negated rhetorical question is equivalent to an affirmation (see v. 8). The perfect is either instantaneous, indicating completion of the action concurrent with the statement (see F. W. Bush, Ruth, Esther [WBC], 107, 121-22, who translates, “I am herewith ordering”) or emphatic/rhetorical, indicating the action is as good as done.

[2:9]  ¹¹ tn The juxtaposition of two perfects, each with vav consecutive, here indicates a conditional sentence (see GKC 337 §112.kk).

[2:9]  ¹² tn Heb “vessels (so KJV, NAB, NRSV), receptacles”; NCV “water jugs.”

[2:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “drink [some] of that which” (KJV similar); in the context “water” is implied.

[2:9]  ¹⁴ tn The imperfect here either indicates characteristic or typical activity, or anterior future, referring to a future action (drawing water) which logically precedes another future action (drinking).