Discovery BoxRuth 2:2 
Context2:2 One day Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go 1 to the fields so I can gather 2 grain behind whoever permits me to do so.” 3 Naomi 4 replied, “You may go, my daughter.”
Ruth 2:13
Context2:13 She said, “You really are being kind to me, 5 sir, 6 for you have reassured 7 and encouraged 8 me, your servant, 9 even though I am 10 not one of your servants!” 11
Ruth 2:23
Context2:23 So Ruth 12 worked beside 13 Boaz’s female servants, gathering grain until the end of the barley harvest as well as the wheat harvest. 14 After that she stayed home with her mother-in-law. 15
Ruth 3:14
Context3:14 So she slept beside him 16 until morning. She woke up while it was still dark. 17 Boaz thought, 18 “No one must know that a woman visited the threshing floor.” 19
1 tn The cohortative here (“Let me go”) expresses Ruth’s request. Note Naomi’s response, in which she gives Ruth permission to go to the field.
2 tn Following the preceding cohortative, the cohortative with vav conjunctive indicates purpose/result.
3 tn Heb “anyone in whose eyes I may find favor” (ASV, NIV similar). The expression אֶמְצָא־חֵן בְּעֵינָיו (’emtsa’-khen bÿ’enayv, “to find favor in the eyes of [someone]”) appears in Ruth 2:2, 10, 13. It is most often used when a subordinate or servant requests permission for something from a superior (BDB 336 s.v. חֵן). Ruth will play the role of the subordinate servant, seeking permission from a landowner, who then could show benevolence by granting her request to glean in his field behind the harvest workers.
4 tn Heb “she”; the referent (Naomi) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5 tn Heb “I am finding favor in your eyes.” In v. 10, where Ruth uses the perfect, she simply states the fact that Boaz is kind. Here the Hebrew text switches to the imperfect, thus emphasizing the ongoing attitude of kindness displayed by Boaz. Many English versions treat this as a request: KJV “Let me find favour in thy sight”; NAB “May I prove worthy of your kindness”; NIV “May I continue to find favor in your eyes.”
6 tn Heb “my master”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “my lord.”
7 tn Or “comforted” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV, NLT).
8 tn Heb “spoken to the heart of.” As F. W. Bush points out, the idiom here means “to reassure, encourage” (Ruth, Esther [WBC], 124).
9 tn Ruth here uses a word (שִׁפְחָה, shifkhah) that describes the lowest level of female servant (see 1 Sam 25:41). Note Ruth 3:9 where she uses the word אָמָה (’amah), which refers to a higher class of servant.
10 tn The imperfect verbal form of הָיָה (hayah) is used here. F. W. Bush shows from usage elsewhere that the form should be taken as future (Ruth, Esther [WBC], 124-25).
11 tn The disjunctive clause (note the pattern vav [ו] + subject + verb) is circumstantial (or concessive) here (“even though”).
12 tn Heb “she”; the referent (Ruth) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
13 tn Heb “and she stayed close with”; NIV, NRSV, CEV “stayed close to”; NCV “continued working closely with.”
14 sn Barley was harvested from late March through late April, wheat from late April to late May (O. Borowski, Agriculture in Ancient Israel, 88, 91).
15 tn Heb “and she lived with her mother-in-law” (so NASB). Some interpret this to mean that she lived with her mother-in-law while working in the harvest. In other words, she worked by day and then came home to Naomi each evening. Others understand this to mean that following the harvest she stayed at home each day with Naomi and no longer went out looking for work (see F. W. Bush, Ruth, Esther [WBC], 140). Others even propose that she lived away from home during this period, but this seems unlikely. A few Hebrew
16 tc The consonantal text (Kethib) has the singular מַרְגְּלָתַו (margÿlatav, “his leg”), while the marginal reading (Qere) has the plural מַרְגְּלוֹתָיו (margÿlotayv, “his legs”).
tn Heb “[at] his legs.” See the note on the word “legs” in v. 4.
17 tn Heb “and she arose before a man could recognize his companion”; NRSV “before one person could recognize another”; CEV “before daylight.”
18 tn Heb “and he said” (so KJV, NASB, NIV). Some translate “he thought [to himself]” (cf. NCV).
19 tn Heb “let it not be known that the woman came [to] the threshing floor” (NASB similar). The article on הָאִשָּׁה (ha’ishah, “the woman”) is probably dittographic (note the final he on the preceding verb בָאָה [va’ah, “she came”]).
