Ruth 2:20 (WEB)

Passage

Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by Yahweh, who has not abandoned his kindness to the living and to the dead.” Naomi said to her, “The man is a close relative to us, one of our near kinsmen.”

Nearby Context

Ruth 2:18 She took it up, and went into the city. Then her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned; and she brought out and gave to her that which she had left after she had enough.

Ruth 2:19 Her mother-in-law said to her, “Where have you gleaned today? Where have you worked? Blessed be he who noticed you.” She told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, “The man’s name with whom I worked today is Boaz.”

Ruth 2:20 Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by Yahweh, who has not abandoned his kindness to the living and to the dead.” Naomi said to her, “The man is a close relative to us, one of our near kinsmen.”

Ruth 2:21 Ruth the Moabitess said, “Yes, he said to me, ‘You shall 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 maidens, and that they not meet you in any other field.”

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "naomi", "said", "daughter-in-law", "blessed", "yahweh", "abandoned", "kindness", 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 said to her Where have..." into verse 21's "Ruth the Moabitess said Yes he said...", 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.