Ruth 2:21 (DBY)

Passage

And Ruth the Moabitess said, He said to me also, Thou shalt keep with my young men until they have ended all my harvest.

Nearby Context

Ruth 2:19 And her mother-in-law said to her, Where hast thou gleaned to-day? and where hast thou wrought? Blessed be he that did regard thee! And she told her mother-in-law with whom she had wrought, and said, The man's name with whom I wrought to-day is Boaz.

Ruth 2:20 And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, Blessed be he of Jehovah, who has not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead! And Naomi said to her, The man is near of kin to us, one of those who have the right of our redemption.

Ruth 2:21 And Ruth the Moabitess said, He said to me also, Thou shalt keep with my young men until they have ended all my harvest.

Ruth 2:22 And Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, It is good, my daughter, that thou go out with his maidens, that they meet thee not in any other field.

Ruth 2:23 So she kept with the maidens of Boaz to glean, until the end of the barley-harvest and of the wheat-harvest. And she dwelt with her mother-in-law.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "ruth", "moabitess", "said", "thou", "shalt", "keep", and "young". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "ruth" and "moabitess", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 20's "And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law Blessed..." into verse 22's "And Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law...", so "ruth" and "moabitess" belong inside that flow. In Ruth context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "ruth" and "moabitess" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.