Ruth 2:22

22 So Naomi said to her daughter-in-law Ruth, "My daughter, it is good for you to work^[a] with his young women, so that nothing will happen to you in another field."

Ruth 2:22 Meaning and Commentary

Ruth 2:22

And Naomi said unto Ruth her daughter in law
Observing the charge Boaz had given her, she thought fit to advise her upon it:

it is good, my daughter, that thou go out with his maidens;
that is, go out in the morning with them, set out from Bethlehem when they went to work, and so continue with them all the day:

that they meet thee not in any other field;
the meaning is, either that men might not meet her in another field alone, or rush upon her at once and unawares, and reproach her, or beat her, or indeed force her; or else that the servants of Boaz might not meet her, or see her in another field, and report it to their master, who would be offended at her; and take it as a slight of his kindness to her; which latter seems rather to be the sense.

Ruth 2:22 In-Context

20 Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, "May he be blessed by the Lord, who has not forsaken his kindness to the living or the dead." Naomi continued, "The man is a close relative. He is one of our family redeemers."

21 Ruth the Moabitess said, "He also told me, 'Stay with my young men until they have finished all of my harvest.' "

22 So Naomi said to her daughter-in-law Ruth, "My daughter, it is good for you to work with his young women, so that nothing will happen to you in another field."

23 Ruth stayed close to Boaz's young women and gathered [grain] until the barley and the wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit go out