Since there is a shift in participants in direct discourse, it is important to introduce this change by a transitional particle such as Then. This signals a short break in time and therefore also a break in the sequence.

The statement of Boaz to Ruth begins in Hebrew with a negative question which expects an affirmative answer: “Do you not listen?” The translator may very well follow the example of Good News Translation and use an affirmative statement instead of the question: Let me give you some advice. Compare C. Brockelmann, Hebräische Syntax, 1956, par. 54. The verb “listen” often has in Hebrew the meaning of “to understand.” Therefore one may translate Boaz’s introductory remarks as “you surely understand.” However, in a number of languages “listen” often includes the component of understanding, as in Hebrew. In such cases, “listen” may be a very appropriate rendering.

The Hebrew text adds an expression meaning “my daughter” after “Do you not listen?” In many receptor languages it is entirely proper for a man to speak to a woman as “my daughter,” especially if she belongs to a younger generation. At the same time it would be quite wrong to imply by such a form of address that Boaz was an old man. So P. Humbert, op. cit., page 267. In some languages, of course, a literal translation of “my daughter” would be entirely misleading, since the reader would assume that Boaz was actually addressing his own daughter or was a member of the same family group related by marriage. In such a case, the marriage of Boaz and Ruth would not have been possible. What is required here is an appropriate term of address which would indicate a marked degree of sympathy and kindness, while avoiding any specific reference to a close relative or any suggestion of courtship. Compare also Translator’s Handbook on Mark on 5.34 and Translator’s Handbook on Luke on 8.48. In some languages one may have an equivalent in “my little woman” or “dear lady.”

However, in languages where no appropriate equivalent exists, it may be better to follow the example of Good News Translation and omit any term of address.

Don’t gather grain anywhere except in this field represents a Hebrew expression which involves two negative verbs: “Do not go … and do not leave.” A more natural order in most languages is “Do not leave this field in order to go and glean in another,” but the two concepts may be combined in an emphatic form as in Good News Translation: Don’t gather grain anywhere except….. One may also say “Do not go anywhere else to gather grain.”

Work with the women is literally “keep close to the women” or “cleave to the women.” This is an emphasis upon “working close together with,” Compare Brown-Driver-Briggs, s.v. dabaq. This dictionary has the advantage of giving the componential meanings of the verb. Baumgartner, on the contrary, groups the meanings according to the accompanying preposition, which in some cases is not semantically important. The componential meaning of the verb is the same in 2.21 and 2.23 in spite of the difference in the following prepositions. Baumgartner, in classing 2.23 with 1.14 because of the same prepositions used in both texts, completely disregards the componential meanings of the verb. since the women servants were the ones who normally gleaned in the fields after the menservants, who did the cutting. However, the use of a verb for work should not suggest to the reader that Boaz has taken Ruth into his service as a supplementary worker; she remains a private reaper who takes home the result of her labor.

The admonition at the beginning of verse 9 translated watch in Good News Translation may be rendered more or less literally in Hebrew as “let your eyes be upon (the field)” or “keep your eyes on (the field).” This is an expression which means “watch (the field)” or “pay attention to (the field).” In reality this means to pay attention to what is going on in the field and may refer specifically to Ruth’s activity, namely, “to search.” Gerleman, op. cit., ad loc., rightly observes that this is not a “Zustandssatz,” and consequently he translates this sentence as follows: “Suche auf dem Felde.” If there is a specific reference to “the field,” then it may be necessary to say “this field” or “this my field.” NAB’s rendering, “Watch to see which field is to be harvested,” can only be the outcome of a complete misunderstanding. The only merit of the translation is that the passive transformation clearly and rightly suggests a different and implicit subject of “harvesting.”

In the Hebrew text it is quite clear that the subject of reaping is “the menservants,” that is, the harvesters. Ruth is admonished to follow the “women servants” and to stay with them. The entire first sentence of verse 9 may be rendered as “Watch where the men are reaping, and follow the women servants who are gleaning” (cf. New English Bible). Commentators generally think that the work of women consisted of gleaning behind the reapers, which New English Bible has legitimately made explicit. But some prefer to think that they were responsible for gathering and tying into sheaves the handfuls of heads of grain cut by the men, and this would account for and justify the translation of Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, “Always glean there where they have just harvested, and follow the women who tie up the sheaves.”

The statement I have ordered my men not to molest you is in Hebrew a question marked with a negative particle, but implying an affirmative answer. Therefore it can appropriately be translated as a statement. Most translators employ a perfect tense: I have ordered my men or “I have given them orders.” The Hebrew perfect tense expresses an action which is apparently accomplished at the very moment of the utterance—at least there is no indication of any prior statement by Boaz to the workers—so that in some languages one may translate correctly with the present tense: “Now I give orders to….” See Joüon, par. 112. It is only in some of the individual translations in the commentaries that a correct rendering can be found. So Gerleman “Du sollst wissen, daß ich den Knechten befehle,” and Tamisier “Voici que j’ordonne….”

To molest you is literally “to touch you,” but in this context it means “to harm you” or “to trouble you.”

The Hebrew term translated water jars in Good News Translation means any kind of vessel or utensil, but obviously in this context the reference is to jars containing water.

Go and drink from the water jars that they have filled is literally in Hebrew “go to the vessels and drink what the young men have drawn.” These two expressions may be conveniently coalesced, as in Good News Translation. In some languages it may be necessary to specify they as “my men” or “the menservants,” and it may also be necessary to specify in this context “water.” This has been made explicit in some of the ancient versions. So Targum, Syriac version, and Vulgate.

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 .