Ruth 2:15

2:15 When she got up to gather grain, Boaz told 1  his male servants, “Let her gather grain even among 2  the bundles! Don’t chase her off! 3 

Ruth 2:21

2:21 Ruth the Moabite replied, “He even 4  told me, ‘You may go along beside my servants 5  until they have finished gathering all my harvest!’” 6 

1 tn Or “commanded” (so KJV, NASB, NCV).

2 tn Heb “even between”; NCV “even around.”

3 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.

4 tn On the force of the phrase גָּם כִּי (gam ki) here, see F. W. Bush, Ruth, Esther (WBC), 138-39.

5 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.

6 tn Heb “until they have finished all the harvest which is mine”; NIV “until they finish harvesting all my grain.”