Ruth 2:12

12 The Lord give you a reward for what you have done, and may a full reward be given to you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take cover.

Ruth 2:12 Meaning and Commentary

Ruth 2:12

The Lord recompence thy work
The Targum adds, in this world; meaning the kind offices she had performed, and the good service she had done to her mother-in-law; nor is God unrighteous to forget the work and labour of love, which is shown by children to their parents; and though such works are not in themselves meritorious of any blessing from God here or hereafter, yet he is pleased of his own grace to recompence them, and return the good into their bosom manifold, it being acceptable in his sight:

and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel;
the Targum adds, in the world to come; which is called the reward of the inheritance, ( Colossians 3:24 ) a reward not of debt, but of grace; and that will be a full one indeed, fulness of joy, peace, and happiness, an abundance of good things not to be conceived of, see ( 2 John 1:8 ) ,

under whose wings thou art come to trust;
whom she professed to be her God, and whom she determined to serve and worship; whose grace and favour she expected, and to whose care and protection she committed herself: the allusion is either to fowls, which cover their young with their wings, and thereby keep them warm and comfortable, and shelter and protect them, see ( Psalms 36:7 ) ( 57:1 ) or to the wings of the cherubim overshadowing the mercy seat, ( Exodus 25:20 ) and the phrase is now adopted by the Jews to express proselytism; and so the Targum here,

``thou art come to be proselyted, and to be hid under the wings of the Shechinah of his glory,''

or his glorious Shechinah.

Ruth 2:12 In-Context

10 Then she went down on her face to the earth, and said to him, Why have I grace in your eyes, that you give attention to me, seeing I am from a strange people?

11 And Boaz answering said to her, I have had news of everything you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband; how you went away from your father and mother and the land of your birth, and came to a people who are strange to you.

12 The Lord give you a reward for what you have done, and may a full reward be given to you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take cover.

13 Then she said, May I have grace in your eyes, my lord, for you have given me comfort, and you have said kind words to your servant, though I am not like one of your servants.

14 And at meal-time Boaz said to her, Come here, and take some of the bread, and put your bit into the wine. And she took her seat among the grain-cutters: and he gave her dry grain, and she took it, and there was more than enough for her meal.