Ruth 2:9 (LSB)

Passage

Let your eyes be on the field which they reap, and go after them. Indeed, I have commanded the young men not to touch you. And if you are thirsty, go to the water jars and drink from what the young men draw.”

Nearby Context

Ruth 2:7 And she said, ‘Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.’ Thus she came and has remained from the morning until now; she has been sitting in the house for a little while.”

Ruth 2:8 Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Have you not heard, my daughter? Do not go to glean in another field; furthermore, do not go on from this one, but stay here with my young women.

Ruth 2:9 Let your eyes be on the field which they reap, and go after them. Indeed, I have commanded the young men not to touch you. And if you are thirsty, go to the water jars and drink from what the young men draw.”

Ruth 2:10 Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your sight that you should take notice of me, though I am a foreigner?”

Ruth 2:11 Boaz replied to her, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband has been fully told to me, and how you forsook your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and came to a people that you did not previously know.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "eyes", "field", "reap", "after", "indeed", "commanded", "young", and "touch". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "eyes" and "field", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 8's "Then Boaz said to Ruth Have you..." into verse 10's "Then she fell on her face bowing...", so "eyes" and "field" 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 "eyes" and "field" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.