SIL Translator’s Notes on Ruth 2:18

2:18a

She picked up the grain and went into the town: The text does not say how Ruth carried the grain. She may have had a basket, a bag, or a large piece of cloth into which she put the grain. She may have carried it on her shoulder or on her head.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

She picked it up and went into the town (God’s Word)
-or-
She took the grain to town (Contemporary English Version)

where her mother-in-law saw: There is a textual problem with the Hebrew verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as saw. There are two possibilities:

(1) The original text read saw. That is, Naomi saw what Ruth had brought. For example:

and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned (New American Standard Bible)

(2) The original text read “caused to see.” That is, Ruth showed Naomi what she had brought. For example:

and showed her mother-in-law how much she had gathered (Good News Translation)

It is recommended that you follow option (1) along with the majority of Hebrew manuscripts and English versions.

what she had gleaned: The Hebrew phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as what she had gleaned does not emphasize that Ruth had gathered a large amount, but this is implied.

2:18b

And she brought out what she had saved from her meal and gave it to Naomi: The phrase what she had saved from her meal refers to the food that Ruth had left from her noon meal. See 2:14d. Boaz must have given her a very generous amount to eat, so she had some of that roasted grain to give to Naomi also.

Here are some other ways to translate this verse part:

Ruth also gave her the roasted grain that was left over from her meal. (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
Ruth also took out the food that was left over from lunch and gave it to Naomi. (New Century Version)

© 2024 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.

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