Paragraph 2:17–18
2:17a
So: The Hebrew conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as So here introduces what Ruth did as a result of what Boaz had said in 2:16.
Ruth gathered grain in the field until evening: Ruth worked gathering grain until dusk or evening, when it began to get dark.
Here are some other ways to translate this verse part:
So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. (New International Version)
-or-
Ruth worked in the field until evening. (Contemporary English Version)
2:17b
And when she beat out what she had gleaned: The Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as beat out refers to the process of separating grain from its stalks and husks or chaff. This process is also called threshing. Ruth beat the heads of grain, probably with a stick, to separate out the good grain, the seed kernels. This would make her load lighter, and she would only have to carry the good grain home.
Here are some other ways to translate this:
Then she separated the grain from its husks. (God’s Word)
-or-
Then after she had pounded the grain off the stalks (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
Then she threshed the barley she had gathered (New International Version)
2:17c
it was about an ephah of barley: After the threshing, Ruth ended up with approximately an ephah of barley. An ephah was a basket of a standard size that the Israelites used for measuring and carrying dry materials. Scholars are not certain as to how much an ephah held in modern measurements.
The following estimates are the most likely possibilities:
• by quantity:
15 liters, or approximately 4 gallons, or half a bushel
• by weight:
12 kilograms, or 25 pounds
However, the exact amount is not the important point. The main point is that this was a very large amount for someone to glean in one day. You should make this clear in your translation. Apparently Boaz’s workers had obeyed his instructions and left extra stalks of grain for Ruth to pick up. She herself must have worked hard to obtain this large amount.
There are several ways of translating the ancient measurement of ephah :
• You can transliterate the Hebrew word ephah. If you do this, you should include a footnote to explain how much this. Use a unit of measurement that would be meaningful to your readers. You could include this information in the text itself. For example:
an ephah, ⌊that is, half a bushel⌋
• You can use a word from your language that represents a measure that is more or less the same volume as the Hebrew ephah
• You can use an approximate measure. For example:
Then after she had pounded the grain off the stalks, she had a large basket full of grain. (Contemporary English Version)
Translate this unit of measurement in the way that best indicates to your readers that this was a lot of grain.
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