Rut 2:9

2:9 Take note of ¹  the field where the men ²  are harvesting and follow behind with the female workers. ³  I will tell the men ⁴  to leave you alone. ⁵  When you are thirsty, you may go to ⁶  the water jars ⁷  and drink some of the water ⁸  the servants draw.” ⁹ 

Rut 2:13

2:13 She said, “You really are being kind to me, ¹⁰  sir, ¹¹  for you have reassured ¹²  and encouraged ¹³  me, your servant, ¹⁴  even though I am ¹⁵  not one of your servants!” ¹⁶ 

Rut 2:15

2:15 When she got up to gather grain, Boaz told ¹⁷  his male servants, “Let her gather grain even among ¹⁸  the bundles! Don’t chase her off! ¹⁹ 

Rut 2:21

2:21 Ruth the Moabite replied, “He even ²⁰  told me, ‘You may go along beside my servants ²¹  until they have finished gathering all my harvest!’” ²² 

[2:9]  ¹ tn Heb “let your eyes be upon” (KJV, NASB similar).

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

[2:9]  ³ tn Heb “and go after them.” The pronominal suffix (“them”) is feminine plural, indicating that the female workers are referred to here.

[2:9]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn The juxtaposition of two perfects, each with vav consecutive, here indicates a conditional sentence (see GKC 337 §112.kk).

[2:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “vessels (so KJV, NAB, NRSV), receptacles”; NCV “water jugs.”

[2:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “drink [some] of that which” (KJV similar); in the context “water” is implied.

[2:9]  ⁹ 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).

[2:13]  ¹⁰ 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.”

[2:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “my master”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “my lord.”

[2:13]  ¹² tn Or “comforted” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV, NLT).

[2:13]  ¹³ tn Heb “spoken to the heart of.” As F. W. Bush points out, the idiom here means “to reassure, encourage” (Ruth, Esther [WBC], 124).

[2:13]  ¹⁴ 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.

[2:13]  ¹⁵ 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).

[2:13]  ¹⁶ tn The disjunctive clause (note the pattern vav [ו] + subject + verb) is circumstantial (or concessive) here (“even though”).

[2:15]  ¹⁷ tn Or “commanded” (so KJV, NASB, NCV).

[2:15]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “even between”; NCV “even around.”

[2:15]  ¹⁹ 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.

[2:21]  ²⁰ tn On the force of the phrase גָּם כִּי (gam ki) here, see F. W. Bush, Ruth, Esther (WBC), 138-39.

[2:21]  ²¹ 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]  ²² tn Heb “until they have finished all the harvest which is mine”; NIV “until they finish harvesting all my grain.”