Rut 2:18

Ruth Returns to Naomi

2:18 She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw ¹  how much grain ²  she had gathered. Then Ruth ³  gave her the roasted grain she had saved from mealtime. ⁴ 

Rut 2:21

2:21 Ruth the Moabite replied, “He even ⁵  told me, ‘You may go along beside my servants ⁶  until they have finished gathering all my harvest!’” ⁷ 

[2:18]  ¹ tc MT vocalizes ותרא as the Qal verb וַתֵּרֶא (vattere’, “and she saw”), consequently of “her mother-in-law” as subject and “what she gathered” as the direct object: “her mother-in-law saw what she gathered.” A few medieval Hebrew mss (also reflected in Syriac and Vulgate) have the Hiphil וַתַּרְא (vattar’, “and she showed”), consequently taking “her mother-in-law” as the direct object and “what she gathered” as the double direct-object: “she showed her mother-in-law what she had gathered” (cf. NAB, TEV, CEV, NLT). Although the latter has the advantage of making Ruth the subject of all the verbs in this verse, it would be syntactically difficult. For one would expect the accusative sign אֶת (’et) before “her mother-in-law” if it were the direct object of a Hiphil verb in a sentence with a double direct object introduced by the accusative sign אֶת, e.g., “to show (Hiphil of רָאָה, ra’ah) your servant (direct object marked by accusative sign אֶת) your greatness (double direct object marked by accusative sign אֶת) (Deut 3:24). Therefore the MT reading is preferred.

[2:18]  ² tn Heb “that which”; the referent (how much grain) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:18]  ³ tn Heb “she”; the referent (Ruth) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “and she brought out and gave to her that which she had left over from her being satisfied.”

[2:21]  ⁵ tn On the force of the phrase גָּם כִּי (gam ki) here, see F. W. Bush, Ruth, Esther (WBC), 138-39.

[2:21]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Heb “until they have finished all the harvest which is mine”; NIV “until they finish harvesting all my grain.”