22Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, “It is better, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, otherwise someone might bother you in another field.”
The Hebrew that is transliterated as “Ruth” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with the sign for “respect” referring to the respect that she shows for the mother-in-law as shown in Ruth 1:16. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
The Hebrew that is transliterated as “Naomi” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with the sign for “changed identity” referring to the many life changes that Naomi goes through in the book of Ruth. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
Following are a number of back-translations of Ruth 2:21-23:
Noongar: “Then Ruth of Moab said, ‘He also told me, ‘Stay close to my workers until they stop harvesting all my wheat’.’ Naomi told Ruth, her son’s wife, ‘This is better, my daughter. You must work near his young women because people might hurt you in another wheat field.’ So Ruth stayed close to Boaz’s young women until they finished gathering wheat. She lived in the home of her mother-in-law.” (Source: Bardip Ruth-Ang 2020)
Eastern Bru: “And Ruth, the Moabite said: ‘Boaz told me: ‘You stay near the people who work for me until the day they finish harvesting for me.’‘ Then Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law: ‘Very good, child! You go always with the people who work for Boaz. Don’t go to any other field. If you go to another field maybe they will do badly to you.’ Then Ruth went always with the people who worked for Boas until they finished harvesting the grain. And she continued to live with her mother-in-law.” And Naomi said: ‘Surely this person is from our clan also very near to us.’” (Source: Bru Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Ruth said to Noemi, “Boaz even said to me that I should- only -go-with his men to glean until all his harvest will-be-finished.” Noemi said to Ruth, “Child, it-would-be-good if you(sg) go with his female servant, because something might happen to you(sg)/[lit. because might/possibly if what-(ever) else the will-happen to you(sg)] in another field.” So Ruth went-with the female servant of Boaz. She gleaned the heads-of-grain until the season/time-of-harvest of barley and wheat was finished. And she continued to live with her mother-in-law.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Then Ruth said, ‘He also said to me, ‘Stay with my workers until they have finished harvesting all my grain.’’ Naomi replied, ‘My daughter, it will be good for you to go to his field with his servant girls, because if you go to someone else’s field, someone might harm/molest you.’ So Ruth stayed close to Boaz’s servant girls while she was working. She gathered stalks of grain until the barley harvest and the wheat harvest were finished. During that time she lived with Naomi.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
The Hebrew text has “Ruth her daughter-in-law,” but it is not necessary to reproduce “daughter-in-law” in this context, since the relationship is quite clear (cf. New English Bible and New American Bible).
In some languages a general verb for said is appropriate in introducing Naomi’s comment in this verse. In other languages the link between verse 22 and verse 21 needs to be made more evident, and therefore one may use a verb such as “rejoined” (New American Bible), “responded,” or “replied in turn.”
For the translation of daughter, see the comments on verses 8 and 9. The connotation of this term is one of affection and kinship. A modern English equivalent may be “my dear” (see New American Bible).
The Hebrew text of verse 22 presents the two statements of Naomi in the same order as that shown in Good News Translation. The comparative it will be better for you to work with the women in Boaz’ field precedes the statement concerning Ruth’s possibly being molested if she goes to another man’s field. It may seem more natural in many languages, however, to state the reason first, You might be molested…, and then the result or conclusion, namely, that Ruth had better stay with the servants of Boaz.
The clause it will be better for you to work with the women in Boaz’ field is in Hebrew a comparative construction, but the second part of the comparison is left out, namely, “better than….” See Joüon, par 141. This makes the Hebrew clause correspond more or less to the English construction “you had better accompany his girls” (Moffatt). However, in some receptor languages it may not be possible to leave out the second member of a comparison. One may have to say, for example, “it is better for you to stay with his servants than to go with the servants of some other man.” Perhaps a more natural expression for this comparison would employ a statement containing an expression of necessity; for example, “you should only accompany his women servants” or “you must stay with his servants.”
You might be molested translates a Hebrew verb which often means merely “to meet.” In this context, however, it means “to meet with hostility.” There seems no reason for following New English Bible “let no one catch you,” since the meaning seems clearly to be “molest” or “harm.” One may even have the active verbal construction: “so that no one may attack you in the fields” or “so that the reapers in the field of someone else may not attack you there.”
Quoted with permission from de Waard, Jan and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Ruth. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1978, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a third person singular and plural pronoun (“he,” “she,” “it” and their various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. While it’s not uncommon to avoid pronouns altogether in Japanese, there are is a range of third person pronouns that can be used. In these verses a number of them are used that pay particularly much respect to the referred person (or, in fact, God, as in Exodus 15:2), including kono kata (この方), sono kata (その方), and ano kata (あの方), meaning “this person,” “that person,” and “that person over there.”
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