Ruth 2:13

13 She said, "Oh sir, such grace, such kindness - I don't deserve it. You've touched my heart, treated me like one of your own. And I don't even belong here!"

Ruth 2:13 Meaning and Commentary

Ruth 2:13

Then she said, let me find favour in thy sight, my lord
Or rather, since she had found favour in his sight already: the words are to be considered, not as a wish for it, but as acknowledging it, and expressing her faith and confidence, that she should for time to come find favour in his sight, and have other instances of it; for so the words may be rendered, "I shall find favour" F26, for which she gives the following reasons:

for that thou hast comforted me, and for that thou hast spoken friendly
unto thine handmaid;
had spoken in her commendation, and wished her all happiness here and hereafter; said kind and comfortable words to her, to her very heart, as in ( Isaiah 40:2 ) which were cheering, refreshing, and reviving to her:

though I be not like unto one of thine handmaidens;
not worthy to be one of them, or to be ranked with them, being meaner than the meanest of them, a poor widow, and a Moabitish woman; the Septuagint and Syriac versions leave out the negative particle, and read, "I shall be as one of thine handmaids".


FOOTNOTES:

F26 (Nx auma) "inveniam gratiam", Pagninus, Montanus.

Ruth 2:13 In-Context

11 Boaz answered her, "I've heard all about you - heard about the way you treated your mother-in-law after the death of her husband, and how you left your father and mother and the land of your birth and have come to live among a bunch of total strangers.
12 God reward you well for what you've done - and with a generous bonus besides from God, to whom you've come seeking protection under his wings."
13 She said, "Oh sir, such grace, such kindness - I don't deserve it. You've touched my heart, treated me like one of your own. And I don't even belong here!"
14 At the lunch break, Boaz said to her, "Come over here; eat some bread. Dip it in the wine." So she joined the harvesters. Boaz passed the roasted grain to her. She ate her fill and even had some left over.
15 When she got up to go back to work, Boaz ordered his servants: "Let her glean where there's still plenty of grain on the ground - make it easy for her.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.