Ruth 2:22

22 And Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, "[It is] good, my daughter, that you go out with his maidservants so that you will not {be bothered} 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 And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, "[May] he be blessed by Yahweh, whose loyal love has not forsaken the living or the dead." And Naomi said to her, "The man is a close relative for us, he [is] one of our redeemers."

21 And Ruth the Moabite said, "Also, he said to me, 'You shall stay close with the servants which are mine until they have finished all of the harvest which is mine.'"

22 And Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, "[It is] good, my daughter, that you go out with his maidservants so that you will not {be bothered} in another field."

23 So she stayed close with the maidservants [of] Boaz to glean until the end of the barley harvest and wheat harvest. And she lived with her mother-in-law.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "they touch on you"