Ruth 2:16 (DRB)

Passage

And let fall some of your handfuls of purpose, and leave them, that she may gather them without shame, and let no man rebuke her when she gathereth them.

Nearby Context

Ruth 2:14 And Booz said to her: At mealtime come thou hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. So she sat at the side of the reapers, and she heaped to herself frumenty, and ate and was filled, and took the leavings.

Ruth 2:15 And she arose from thence, to glean the ears of corn as before. And Booz commanded his servants, saying: If she would even reap with you, hinder her not:

Ruth 2:16 And let fall some of your handfuls of purpose, and leave them, that she may gather them without shame, and let no man rebuke her when she gathereth them.

Ruth 2:17 She gleaned therefore in the field till evening: and beating out with a rod, and threshing what she had gleaned, she found about the measure of an ephi of barley, that is, three bushels:

Ruth 2:18 Which she took up, and returned into the city, and shewed it to her mother in law: moreover, she brought out, and gave her of the remains of her meat, wherewith she had been filled.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "purpose", "fall", "some", "handfuls", "leave", "gather", "without", and "shame". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "purpose" and "fall", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 15's "And she arose from thence to glean..." into verse 17's "She gleaned therefore in the field till...", so "purpose" and "fall" 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 "purpose" and "fall" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.