Ruth 2:13

13 “My lord,” she said, “may I continue to find favor in your eyes, for you have comforted and spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not like one of your servant girls.”

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".

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FOOTNOTES:

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

Ruth 2:13 In-Context

11 Boaz replied, “I have been made fully aware of all you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, how you left your father and mother and the land of your birth, and how you came to a people you did not know before.

12 May the LORD repay your work, and may you receive a rich reward from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have taken refuge.”

13 “My lord,” she said, “may I continue to find favor in your eyes, for you have comforted and spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not like one of your servant girls.”

14 At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come over here; have some bread and dip it into the vinegar sauce.” So she sat down beside the harvesters, and he offered her roasted grain, and she ate and was satisfied and had some left over.

15 When Ruth got up to glean, Boaz ordered his young men, “Even if she gathers among the sheaves, do not insult her.