Ruth 2:7 (DBY)

Passage

and she said, I pray you, let me glean and gather among the sheaves after the reapers. And she came, and has continued from the morning until now: her sitting in the house has been little as yet.

Nearby Context

Ruth 2:5 And Boaz said to his servant that was set over the reapers, Whose maiden is this?

Ruth 2:6 And the servant that was set over the reapers answered and said, It is the Moabitish maiden who came back with Naomi out of the fields of Moab;

Ruth 2:7 and she said, I pray you, let me glean and gather among the sheaves after the reapers. And she came, and has continued from the morning until now: her sitting in the house has been little as yet.

Ruth 2:8 And Boaz said to Ruth, Hearest thou not, my daughter? Go not to glean in another field, neither go from here, but keep here with my maidens.

Ruth 2:9 Let thine eyes be on the field which is being reaped, and go thou after them; have I not charged the young men not to touch thee? And when thou art athirst, go to the vessels and drink of what the young men draw.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "said", "pray", "glean", "gather", "sheaves", "after", "reapers", and "came". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "said" and "pray", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 6's "And the servant that was set over..." into verse 8's "And Boaz said to Ruth Hearest thou...", so "said" and "pray" 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 "said" and "pray" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.