Ruth 2:17

17 So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah.[a]

Ruth 2:17 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
17 So she gleaned in the field until even, and beat out that she had gleaned: and it was about an ephah of barley.
English Standard Version (ESV)
17 So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley.
New Living Translation (NLT)
17 So Ruth gathered barley there all day, and when she beat out the grain that evening, it filled an entire basket.
The Message Bible (MSG)
17 Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. When she threshed out what she had gathered, she ended up with nearly a full sack of barley!
American Standard Version (ASV)
17 So she gleaned in the field until even; and she beat out that which she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley.
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
17 So Ruth gathered grain in the field until evening. Then she separated the grain from its husks. She had about half a bushel of barley.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
17 So Ruth gathered [grain] in the field until evening. She beat out what she had gathered, and it was about 26 quarts of barley.
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
17 So Ruth picked up grain in the field until evening. Then she separated the barley from the straw. It amounted to more than half a bushel.

Ruth 2:17 Meaning and Commentary

Ruth 2:17

So she gleaned in the field until even
An instance of her great diligence and industry, attending to this mean employment constantly from morning tonight:

and beat out that she had gleaned:
she did not bind up her gleanings in a bundle, and carry it home on her head, as gleaners with us do, but she beat it out with a staff in the field, where she gleaned it, and winnowed it, very probably in the threshingfloor of Boaz; by which means what she had gleaned was brought into a lesser size and weight, and was a lighter burden to carry home:

and it was an ephah of barley;
or three seahs of barley, as the Targum; which, according to Bishop Cumberland F9, was six gallons, and three pints, and three solid inches: an omer is said to be the tenth part of an ephah, and, made into bread, was as much as a man could eat in one day, ( Exodus 16:16 Exodus 16:36 ) , so that Ruth got enough in one day, for herself and her mother-in-law, which would last five days at least. This was a great deal for one woman to pick up, ear by ear, in one day; and must be accounted for, not only by her diligence and industry, but by the favour shown her by the reapers, under the direction of Boaz, who suffered her to glean among the sheaves, and let fall handfuls for her to pick up.


FOOTNOTES:

F9 Of Scripture Weights and Measures, ch. 3. p. 64.

Ruth 2:17 In-Context

15 As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, “Let her gather among the sheaves and don’t reprimand her.
16 Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don’t rebuke her.”
17 So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah.
18 She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over after she had eaten enough.
19 Her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!” Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. “The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz,” she said.

Cross References 2

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. That is, probably about 30 pounds or about 13 kilograms
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