complete verse (Ruth 2:6 - 2:9)

Following are a number of back-translations of Ruth 2:6-2:9:

  • Noongar: “The boss of the wheat workers replied, ‘This one is from Moab. She returned with Naomi from Moab. The woman said, ‘Let me gather my wheat behind the wheat workers’, and she has worked here from sunrise and not stopped.’ Then Boaz said to Ruth, ‘Listen, my daughter, don’t go to another wheat field, don’t go away but stay close to my young women. Watch the wheat field and stay close to the wheat workers. I have told my young men not to bother you. If you must drink water, take the water my young men have brought.’” (Source: Bardip Ruth-Ang 2020)
  • Eastern Bru: “And the person who worked for him answered: ‘She is a Moabite. She came from the country of Moab with Naomi to come to this place. The young woman asked me to allow her to glean following those who are harvesting the grain. She asked to follow and pick up the grain from the bundles. She came very early. She has been working until now. She rested only briefly in that shelter.’ After that Boaz said to Ruth: ‘Young woman. Listen to what I say. Don’t go and glean in other fields, and don’t go far from this place. But you stay with the women who work for me. And you watch what field these women are harvesting. Then you follow them and go to that field also. I have told the men who work for me not to do anything to you. If you are thirsty, you can drink from the gourds that the men have drawn.'” (Source: Bru Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “The servant replied, ‘She is the Moabnon who came-together with Noemi when she returned from Moab. She asked me to allow her to glean some of the remaining heads-of-grain of the harvesters. She really works steadily from (this) morning until now. She just rested for-a-short-time in the roofed-shelter.’ Boaz said to Ruth, ‘Day (an address to a young lady), you(sg) do- not -go anymore to another field to glean heads-of-grain. You(pl) just glean here with my female servant. Watch where my men are-harvesting and you(pl) follow-along-after the female servant. I have- already -told my men that they will- not -harm you(sg). And when you(sg) are thirsty, just drink from the jars that my men have-filled-with-water.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “The foreman replied, ‘She is the woman from Moab who returned from there with her mother-in-law Naomi. She said to me, ‘Please let me walk behind the men who are harvesting the grain and pick up some of the grain they leave behind.’ I gave her permission, and she went into the field, and she has been working from this morning until now. The only time she did not work was when she rested for a short time in the shelter.’ So Boaz went over to Ruth and said to her, ‘Young lady, listen to me. Don’t go and pick up grain in another field. Do not go away from here. Stay here with my servant girls. Watch where the men are harvesting, and follow along behind the servant girls. I will tell the men who are working not to touch/molest you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get some water to drink from the jars that the men have filled.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Ruth 2:7: A Cultural Commentary for Central Africa

As the workers report to Boaz about Ruth’s industriousness, they emphasize the fact that “She . . . worked steadily . . . except for a short rest in the shelter.” This was rendered by an idiomatic expression in the old Chichewa Bible, ‘in the house she doesn’t stay long,’ but this means something quite different. In a culture where a woman’s place is definitely in the “home,” it suggests that Ruth is some sort of busybody, or worse, of immoral character.

Source: Wendland 1987, p. 173f.

Japanese benefactives (-sete)

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 show different degree of politeness is through the choice of a benefactive construction as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017.

Here, -sete (せて) or “let/allow (for me)” is used in combination with kudasaru (くださる), a respectful form of the benefactive kureru (くれる). A benefactive reflects the good will of the giver or the gratitude of a recipient of the favor. To convey this connotation, English translation needs to employ a phrase such as “for me (my sake)” or “for you (your sake).” (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Ruth 2:7

She asked is literally in Hebrew “she said,” but since what follows is a request, a verb such as “asked,” “asked permission to,” or “inquired whether she could” is fitting.

It is appropriate to use at this point either direct or indirect discourse in introducing what Ruth requested; for example, “She asked whether she could follow the workers,” “She asked if she might glean” (New English Bible), or “She asked, ‘May I gather up the grain left by the workers?’ ” Whether direct or indirect discourse should be employed depends upon what is natural in the receptor language. Note that an expression of direct discourse would involve discourse within discourse, since it is quoting what Ruth said within a quotation of what the servant was saying to Boaz.

Gather grain translates what is literally in the Hebrew text “glean and gather among the sheaves after the reapers.” This is the form employed by a majority of modern versions, but it represents a serious textual difficulty. Perhaps “among the sheaves” was mistakenly introduced into this verse from verse 15. According to verse 2, Ruth did not ask permission to gather among the sheaves; that would have been contrary to customary practice. Anyone who was gleaning was required to stay behind the reapers; that is to say, they could only gather after the harvesters had completed their work and in areas where the sheaves had been taken away. Compare G. Dalman, Arbeit und Sitte in Palästina, Vol. III, pages 46 ff., 1964 (reprint of the 1928-1942 edition). Furthermore, it was only afterward (verse 15) that Ruth got permission to glean among the sheaves, which was an unusual favor. For these reasons the translator is encouraged to omit the prepositional phrase “among the sheaves” and to translate as in Good News Translation: follow the workers and gather grain. This type of translation has considerable support from ancient versions, but one cannot decide whether the early translations represented an older Hebrew original or whether they corrected the Hebrew text in a similar manner. There are a number of other suggestions for change which have been proposed, but none of these is fully acceptable. The whole phrase “and gather among the sheaves” is lacking in the Syriac version and in the Vulgate. BJ follows partly this versional evidence in omitting “among the sheaves.” Among the English translations, RSV, NEB, and Moffatt reproduce the Hebrew text. NAB’s rendering “to gather the gleanings into sheaves” suggests a sequence of two related actions, but the translation is quite exaggerated. There is no indication that “gleanings” should be the implicit object of “to gather,” and it is impossible to translate the Hebrew preposition be with “into.” Among recent commentators, Gerleman (op. cit., ad loc.) is in favor of the omission of the prepositional phrase “among the sheaves.” Others propose different changes in the Hebrew text. Joüon, Rudolph, and Haller (see their commentaries ad loc.) propose to read baʿamirim (“stalks”) instead of baʿamarim (“sheaves”). However, Hertzberg (op. cit., ad loc.) is certainly right when he observes that this particular meaning of ʿamir is very questionable and that this would be the only instance where the collective singular noun ʿamir would have a plural suffix. However, his own proposal to read weʾosephot instead of weʾasaphti (this means reading “Garbensammlerinnen” [gatherers of sheaves] for “let me gather”) is also subject to many objections. First, one would expect in such a case a connective construction weʾosephot ʿamarim (without the preposition be) and then one would expect to find this construction at the end of the sentence, in any case after the preposition ʾachare (“after”). Where necessary one can add a footnote introducing the literal form of the Hebrew text.

There are a number of other textual problems in verse 7, but they have little bearing upon the problems of interpretation.

If one does not take into account the Masoretic accentuation of the Hebrew text, it is possible to relate the temporal markers, “since early morning and … just now,” to what follows. The meaning would then be “[Thus/Therefore, she came and stayed here.] Since dawn and until now she hardly rested a minute.” The emphasis of this information is not on “stayed here” but rather on the fact that Ruth never stopped working, that she didn’t take a rest from dawn until the time of the conversation between Boaz and his servant.

But recently two other very old interpretations have been taken up and defended. They both suggest that the idea is that Ruth, as an inexperienced gleaner, was only able to gather a little bit (meʿat), and that the leader of the harvesters took pity on her. The first interpretation corresponds to the literal translation, which can be paraphrased as follows: “And-she-came and-remained-standing since this-morning until now; [and] [the fact] that, [now that] she [is] sitting [before returning] home, [is a] small [matter].” The second interpretation is a variant on the first but divides the text differently: “And-she-came and-remained-standing since this-morning. Now, until now, [time when] sat down-for-her to-the-house, [is] a small [matter].” See D. Barthélemy, Critique textuelle de l’Ancien Testament, 1982, Fribourg: Editions universitaires, page 132. M. Weippert (1978, “Ein neuer Kommentar zu Ruth,” Biblica 59, page 272, note 8) raises the valid question whether bayit cannot have the meaning ‘Grundstück, field,’ as sometimes the Accadian bitu or the Arabic bayt. See also Septuagint: “in the field.”

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 .