Ruth 3:15

15 And he told her, “Bring the shawl you are wearing and hold it out.” When she did so, he poured in six measures of barley ^[a] and placed it on her. Then he went ^[b] into the city.

Ruth 3:15 Meaning and Commentary

Ruth 3:15

Also he said
Which seems to confirm the first sense, that what he had said before was to Ruth, beside which he also said to her what follows:

bring the vail which thou hast upon thee, and hold it;
by which it appears that he rose also thus early, since he ordered her to bring her vail to him, and hold it with both her hands, while he filled it from the heap of corn: this vail was either what she wore on her head, as women used to do, or a coverlet she brought with her to cover herself with, when she lay down; the Septuagint renders it a "girdle", that is, an apron she tied or girt about her; which is as likely as anything: and when she held it, he measured six measures of barley; what these measures were is not expressed; the Targum is six seahs or bushels, as the Vulgate Latin version, but that is too much, and more than a woman could carry; unless we suppose, with the Targum, that she had strength from the Lord to carry it, and was extraordinarily assisted by him in it, which is not very probable; rather six omers, an omer being the tenth part of an ephah, and so was a quantity she might be able to carry:

and laid it upon her;
upon her shoulder, or put it on her head, it being, no doubt, as much as she could well bear, and which required some assistance to help her up with it:

and she went into the city; of Bethlehem,
with her burden; or rather he went ^F2; for the word is masculine, and to be understood of Boaz, who accompanied her to the city, lest she should meet with any that should abuse her; and so the Targum expresses it,

``Boaz went into the city.''

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FOOTNOTES:

F2 (abyw) "et ingressus est", Tigurine version. Drusius, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

Ruth 3:15 In-Context

13 Stay here tonight, and in the morning, if he wants to redeem you, good. Let him redeem you. But if he does not want to redeem you, as surely as the LORD lives, I will. Now lie here until morning.”

14 So she lay down at his feet until morning, but she got up before anyone else could recognize her. Then Boaz said, “Do not let it be known that a woman came to the threshing floor.”

15 And he told her, “Bring the shawl you are wearing and hold it out.” When she did so, he poured in six measures of barley and placed it on her. Then he went into the city.

16 When Ruth returned to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked her, “How did it go, my daughter?” Then Ruth told her all that Boaz had done for her.

17 And she said, “He gave me these six measures of barley, for he said, ‘Do not go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’”

Footnotes

• [a]. Possibly six seahs (two ephahs), or approximately 39.6 dry quarts or 43.8 liters (about 58 pounds or 26.3 kilograms of barley)
• [b]. Most Hebrew manuscripts; many Hebrew manuscripts, Vulgate, and Syriac she went