Ruth 3:1

1 And after that Ruth had turned (again) to her mother-in-law, she heard of her, My daughter, I shall seek rest to thee, and I shall purvey that it be well to thee. (And sometime later, when Ruth had returned to her mother-in-law, Naomi said to her, My daughter, I shall seek rest for thee, and I shall purvey that it be well with thee.)

Ruth 3:1 Meaning and Commentary

Ruth 3:1

Then Naomi her mother in law said unto her
After the harvests were over, and so gleaning likewise; when Naomi and Ruth were together alone in their apartment, the mother addressed the daughter after this manner:

my daughter, shall I not seek for thee, that it may be well with thee?
that is, in the house of an husband, as in ( Ruth 1:9 ) her meaning is, to seek out for an husband for her, that she might have an house of her own to rest in, and an husband to provide her; that so she might be free from such toil and labour she had been lately exercised in, and enjoy much ease and comfort, and all outward happiness and prosperity in a marriage state with a good husband. This interrogation carries in it the force of a strong affirmation, may suggest that she judged it to be her duty, and that she was determined to seek out such a rest for her; and the Targum makes her way of speaking stronger still, for that is,

``by an oath I will not rest, until the time that I have sought a rest for thee.''

Ruth 3:1 In-Context

1 And after that Ruth had turned (again) to her mother-in-law, she heard of her, My daughter, I shall seek rest to thee, and I shall purvey that it be well to thee. (And sometime later, when Ruth had returned to her mother-in-law, Naomi said to her, My daughter, I shall seek rest for thee, and I shall purvey that it be well with thee.)

2 This Boaz, to whose damsels thou were joined (to) in the field, is our kinsman, and in this night he winnoweth the cornfloor of barley (and tonight he thresheth barley at his threshing floor).

3 Therefore be thou washed, and anointed, and be thou clothed with more honest clothes, and go thou down into the cornfloor; the man see not thee, till he have ended to eat and to drink. (And so be thou washed, and anointed, and be thou clothed with more honourable, or more decent, clothes, and then go thou down to the threshing floor; but do not let the man see thee until he hath finished eating and drinking.)

4 Forsooth when he goeth to sleep, mark thou the place in which he sleepeth; and thou shalt come, and uncover the cloak, with which he is covered, from the part of the feet, and thou shalt cast thee down, and thou shalt lie there. Forsooth he shall say to thee, what thou oughtest to do.

5 And Ruth answered, Whatever thing thou commandest to me, I shall do.