Ruth 2:21

21 And Ruth said to her mother-in-law, Yea, he said also to me, Keep close to my damsels, until the men shall have finished all my reaping.

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 mother-in-law said to her, Where hast thou gleaned to-day, and where hast thou wrought? blessed be he that took notice of thee. And Ruth told her mother-in-law where she wrought, and said, The name of the man with whom I wrought to-day Booz.

20 And Noemin said to her daughter-in-law, Blessed is he of the Lord, because he has not failed in his mercy with the living and with the dead: and Noemin said to her, The man is near akin to us, he is one of our relations.

21 And Ruth said to her mother-in-law, Yea, he said also to me, Keep close to my damsels, until the men shall have finished all my reaping.

22 And Noemin said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, well, daughter, that thou wentest out with his damsels; thus they shall not meet thee in another field.

23 And Ruth joined herself to the damsels of Booz to glean until they had finished the barley-harvest and the wheat-harvest.