Ruth 3:8

In the middle of the night he was startled ¹  and turned over. ²  Now ³  he saw a woman ⁴  lying beside him! ⁵ 

In the middle of the night something startled the man, and he turned and discovered a woman lying at his feet.

It happened in the middle of the night that the man was startled and bent forward; and behold, a woman was lying at his feet.

Around midnight, Boaz suddenly woke up and turned over. He was surprised to find a woman lying at his feet!

In the middle of the night the man was suddenly startled and sat up. Surprise! This woman asleep at his feet!

Now in the middle of the night, the man awaking from his sleep in fear, and lifting himself up, saw a woman stretched at his feet.

At midnight the man was startled, and turned over, and there, lying at his feet, was a woman!

Now it happened at midnight that the man was startled, and turned himself; and there, a woman was lying at his feet.

In the middle of the night he was startled ¹  and turned over. ²  Now ³  he saw a woman ⁴  lying beside him! ⁵ 

¹ tn Heb “trembled, shuddered”; CEV, NLT “suddenly woke up.” Perhaps he shivered because he was chilled.

² tn The verb לָפַת (lafat) occurs only here, Job 6:18, and Judg 16:29 (where it seems to mean “grab hold of”). Here the verb seems to carry the meaning “bend, twist, turn,” like its Arabic cognate (see HALOT 533 s.v. לפת, and F. W. Bush, Ruth, Esther [WBC], 163).

³ tn Heb “and behold” (so KJV, NASB). The narrator invites the reader to view the situation through Boaz’s eyes.

⁴ sn Now he saw a woman. The narrator writes from Boaz’s perspective. Both the narrator and the reader know the night visitor is Ruth, but from Boaz’s perspective she is simply “a woman.”

⁵ tn Heb “[at] his legs.” See the note on the word “legs” in v. 4.