Ruth 2:13

13 She said, "May I continue to find favor in your eyes, sir, because you've comforted me and because you've spoken kindly to your female servant—even though I'm not one of your female servants."

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 responded to her, "Everything that you did for your mother-in-law after your husband's death has been reported fully to me: how you left behind your father, your mother, and the land of your birth, and came to a people you hadn't known beforehand.

12 May the LORD reward you for your deed. May you receive a rich reward from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you've come to seek refuge."

13 She said, "May I continue to find favor in your eyes, sir, because you've comforted me and because you've spoken kindly to your female servant—even though I'm not one of your female servants."

14 At mealtime Boaz said to her, "Come over here, eat some of the bread, and dip your piece in the vinegar." She sat alongside the harvesters, and he served roasted grain to her. She ate, was satisfied, and had leftovers.

15 Then she got up to glean. Boaz ordered his young men, "Let her glean between the bundles, and don't humiliate her.