Ruth 2:20 (LSB)

Passage

Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed of Yahweh who has not forsaken his lovingkindness to the living and to the dead.” Then Naomi said to her, “The man is our relative; he is one of our kinsman redeemers.”

Nearby Context

Ruth 2:18 She took it up and went into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She also took it out and gave Naomi what she had left after she was satisfied.

Ruth 2:19 Her mother-in-law then said to her, “Where did you glean today and where did you work? May he who took notice of you be blessed.” So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said, “The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz.”

Ruth 2:20 Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed of Yahweh who has not forsaken his lovingkindness to the living and to the dead.” Then Naomi said to her, “The man is our relative; he is one of our kinsman redeemers.”

Ruth 2:21 Then Ruth the Moabitess said, “Furthermore, he said to me, ‘You should stay close to my young men until they have finished all my harvest.’”

Ruth 2:22 Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, so that others do not oppress you in another field.”

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "naomi", "said", "daughter-in-law", "blessed", "yahweh", "forsaken", "lovingkindness", and "living". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "naomi" and "said", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 19's "Her mother-in-law then said to her Where..." into verse 21's "Then Ruth the Moabitess said Furthermore he...", so "naomi" and "said" 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 "naomi" and "said" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.