Ruth 2:21

21 And Ruth the Moabitess said, He said unto me also, Thou shalt keep close by my ne’arim, until they have ended kol HaKatzir that is mine.

Ruth 2:21 Meaning and Commentary

Ruth 2:21

And Ruth the Moabitess said, he said unto me also
Besides the favours he has shown me already, he has given me reason to expect more, for he has given me this strict order:

thou shalt keep fast by my young men, until they have ended all my
harvest;
both barley harvest and wheat harvest; his will was, that she kept following them, and gleaned after them, as long as both harvests lasted. The Septuagint version is, "with my maidens", and which agrees with ( Ruth 2:8 ) , where the order of Boaz is expressed, and with the instructions of Naomi in the next verse, who so understood it; but if we understand it of young men here, there is no contradiction; for both young men and maidens wrought together in the same field, either in reaping or binding up; so that if she kept fast by the one, she also would do the same by the other.

Ruth 2:21 In-Context

19 And her chamot said unto her, Where hast thou gleaned hayom (today)? And where did you work? Baruch be he who did take knowledge of thee. And she showed her chamot with whom she had worked, and said, Shem HaIsh with whom I worked hayom (today) is Boaz.

20 And Naomi said unto her kallah, Baruch hu l’Hashem asher lo azav chasdo et haChayyim v’et haMesim (Blessed be he of Hashem who hath not abandoned his chesed to the living and to the dead). And Naomi said unto her, The man is karov unto us. MiGoaleinu hu (he is one of our kinsmen redeemers).

21 And Ruth the Moabitess said, He said unto me also, Thou shalt keep close by my ne’arim, until they have ended kol HaKatzir that is mine.

22 And Naomi said unto Ruth her kallah, It is tov, my daughter, that thou go out with his ne’arot, because in someone else’s sadeh you might be harmed.

23 So she kept close by the ne’arot of Boaz to glean unto the end of katzir haseorim and of katzir chittim; and dwelt with her chamot.