Rut 2:4

Boaz and Ruth Meet

2:4 Now at that very moment, ¹  Boaz arrived from Bethlehem ²  and greeted ³  the harvesters, “May the Lord be with you!” They replied, ⁴  “May the Lord bless you!”

Rut 2:9

2:9 Take note of ⁵  the field where the men ⁶  are harvesting and follow behind with the female workers. ⁷  I will tell the men ⁸  to leave you alone. ⁹  When you are thirsty, you may go to ¹⁰  the water jars ¹¹  and drink some of the water ¹²  the servants draw.” ¹³ 

Rut 2:21

2:21 Ruth the Moabite replied, “He even ¹⁴  told me, ‘You may go along beside my servants ¹⁵  until they have finished gathering all my harvest!’” ¹⁶ 

Rut 4:3

4:3 Then Boaz said to the guardian, ¹⁷  “Naomi, who has returned from the region of Moab, is selling ¹⁸  the portion of land that belongs to our relative Elimelech.

[2:4]  ¹ tn Heb “and look”; NIV, NRSV “Just then.” The narrator invites the audience into the story, describing Boaz’s arrival as if it were witnessed by the audience.

[2:4]  ² map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.

[2:4]  ³ tn Heb “said to.” Context indicates that the following expression is a greeting, the first thing Boaz says to his workers.

[2:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “said to him.” For stylistic reasons “replied” is used in the present translation.

[2:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “let your eyes be upon” (KJV, NASB similar).

[2:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “they.” The verb is masculine plural, indicating that the male workers are the subject here.

[2:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “and go after them.” The pronominal suffix (“them”) is feminine plural, indicating that the female workers are referred to here.

[2:9]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ tn The juxtaposition of two perfects, each with vav consecutive, here indicates a conditional sentence (see GKC 337 §112.kk).

[2:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “vessels (so KJV, NAB, NRSV), receptacles”; NCV “water jugs.”

[2:9]  ¹² tn Heb “drink [some] of that which” (KJV similar); in the context “water” is implied.

[2:9]  ¹³ 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).

[2:21]  ¹⁴ tn On the force of the phrase גָּם כִּי (gam ki) here, see F. W. Bush, Ruth, Esther (WBC), 138-39.

[2:21]  ¹⁵ 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.

[2:21]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “until they have finished all the harvest which is mine”; NIV “until they finish harvesting all my grain.”

[4:3]  ¹⁷ tn Or “redeemer.” See the note on the phrase “guardian of the family interests” in 3:9.

[4:3]  ¹⁸ tn The perfect form of the verb here describes as a simple fact an action that is underway (cf. NIV, NRSV, CEV, NLT); NAB “is putting up for sale.”

[4:3]  sn Naomi…is selling. The nature of the sale is uncertain. Naomi may have been selling the property rights to the land, but this seems unlikely in light of what is known about ancient Israelite property laws. It is more likely that Naomi, being a woman, held only the right to use the land until the time of her remarriage or death (F. W. Bush, Ruth, Esther [WBC], 202-4). Because she held this right to use of the land, she also had the right to buy it back from the its current owner. (This assumes that Elimelech sold the land prior to going to Moab.) Since she did not possess the means to do so, however, she decided to dispose of her rights in the matter. She was not selling the land per se, but disposing of the right to its redemption and use, probably in exchange for room and board with the purchaser (Bush, 211-15). If this is correct, it might be preferable to translate, “Naomi is disposing of her rights to the portion of land,” although such a translation presumes some knowledge of ancient Israelite property laws.