Ruth 2:16

16 And ye shall also sometimes draw out for her [some ears] out of the handfuls, and leave them that she may glean, and rebuke her not.

Ruth 2:16 Meaning and Commentary

Ruth 2:16

And let fall some of the handfuls on purpose for her
That is, when they had reaped an handful, instead of laying it in its proper order, to be taken up by those that gathered after them, or by themselves, in order to be bound up in sheaves, scatter it about, or let it fall where they reaped it:

and leave them, that she may glean them, and rebuke her not
for taking them, as if she did a wrong thing.

Ruth 2:16 In-Context

14 And Boaz said to her at mealtime, Come hither and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And she sat beside the reapers; and he reached her parched corn, and she ate and was sufficed, and reserved [some].

15 And when she rose up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, Let her glean even among the sheaves, and ye shall not reproach her.

16 And ye shall also sometimes draw out for her [some ears] out of the handfuls, and leave them that she may glean, and rebuke her not.

17 And she gleaned in the field until even, and beat out what she had gleaned; and it was about an ephah of barley.

18 And she took [it] up, and came into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned; and she brought forth and gave to her that which she had reserved after she was sufficed.

Footnotes

• [a]. According to others, 'let fall.'
• [b]. Or 'sheaves;' the word is only found in this place.