Ruth 2:12

12 The Lord yield to thee for thy work, and receive thou full meed of the Lord God of Israel, to whom thou camest, and under whose wings thou fleddest. (May the Lord reward thee for thy good deeds, yea, may thou receive thy full reward from the Lord God of Israel, to whom thou hast come, and under whose wings thou hast fled.)

Ruth 2:12 Meaning and Commentary

Ruth 2:12

The Lord recompence thy work
The Targum adds, in this world; meaning the kind offices she had performed, and the good service she had done to her mother-in-law; nor is God unrighteous to forget the work and labour of love, which is shown by children to their parents; and though such works are not in themselves meritorious of any blessing from God here or hereafter, yet he is pleased of his own grace to recompence them, and return the good into their bosom manifold, it being acceptable in his sight:

and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel;
the Targum adds, in the world to come; which is called the reward of the inheritance, ( Colossians 3:24 ) a reward not of debt, but of grace; and that will be a full one indeed, fulness of joy, peace, and happiness, an abundance of good things not to be conceived of, see ( 2 John 1:8 ) ,

under whose wings thou art come to trust;
whom she professed to be her God, and whom she determined to serve and worship; whose grace and favour she expected, and to whose care and protection she committed herself: the allusion is either to fowls, which cover their young with their wings, and thereby keep them warm and comfortable, and shelter and protect them, see ( Psalms 36:7 ) ( 57:1 ) or to the wings of the cherubim overshadowing the mercy seat, ( Exodus 25:20 ) and the phrase is now adopted by the Jews to express proselytism; and so the Targum here,

``thou art come to be proselyted, and to be hid under the wings of the Shechinah of his glory,''

or his glorious Shechinah.

Ruth 2:12 In-Context

10 And she felled on her face, and worshipped on the earth; and she said to him, Whereof is this to me, that I should find grace before thine eyes, that thou wouldest know me, a strange woman? (And she fell on her face, and honoured him on the ground; and she said to him, Whereof is this to me, that I should find favour in thine eyes, and that thou wouldest acknowledge me, who is but a stranger?)

11 To whom Boaz answered, All things be told to me, that thou hast done to thy mother-in-law after the death of thine husband (All things have been told to me, what thou hast done for thy mother-in-law after the death of thy husband), and that thou hast forsaken thy father and thy mother, and the land that thou were born in, and thou art come to a people, that thou hast not known before.

12 The Lord yield to thee for thy work, and receive thou full meed of the Lord God of Israel, to whom thou camest, and under whose wings thou fleddest. (May the Lord reward thee for thy good deeds, yea, may thou receive thy full reward from the Lord God of Israel, to whom thou hast come, and under whose wings thou hast fled.)

13 And she said, My lord, I have found grace before thine eyes, and thou hast comforted me, and thou hast spoken to the heart of thine handmaid, which am not like one of thine handmaids. (And she said, My lord, for I have found favour in thine eyes, and thou hast spoken to the heart of thy servantess, though I am not equal to one of thy servantesses, yea, thou hast greatly comforted me.)

14 And Boaz said to her, When the hour of eating is, come thou hither, and eat bread, and wet thy morsel in vinegar. Therefore she sat at the side of [the] reapers; and he directed to her pottage, and she ate, and was filled; and she took the remnants. (And Boaz said to her, When it is time to eat, come thou here, and eat bread, and wet thy morsel in the vinegar. And so she sat beside the reapers; and Boaz passed her some roasted grain, and she ate, and was fulfilled; and she took up the remnants.)