Discovery BoxRuth 3:17 
Context3:17 She said, “He gave me these sixty pounds of barley, for he said to me, 1 ‘Do not go to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’” 2
Ruth 4:13
Context4:13 So Boaz married Ruth and had sexual relations with her. 3 The Lord enabled her to conceive 4 and she gave birth to a son.
1 tc The MT (Kethib) lacks the preposition אֵלַי (’elay, “to me”) which is attested in the marginal reading (Qere).
2 sn ‘Do not go to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’ In addition to being a further gesture of kindness on Boaz’s part, the gift of barley served as a token of his intention to fulfill his responsibility as family guardian. See R. L. Hubbard, Jr., Ruth (NICOT), 225-26, and F. W. Bush, Ruth, Esther (WBC), 187.
3 tn Heb “and Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife and he went in to her.” Here the phrase “went in to her” (so NASB) is a euphemism for having sexual relations (cf. NCV); NLT “When he slept with her.”
4 tn Heb “gave her conception” (so KJV); NRSV “made her conceive”; NLT “enabled her to become pregnant.”
