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LXX Ruth

Septuagint

About this book
Chapter 3

1 And Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, My daughter, shall I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you? 2 And now is not Boaz our relative, with whose young women you were? look, he winnows barley this night in the floor. 3 But wash, and anoint yourself, and put your clothing upon you, and go up to the threshing floor: do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished drinking and eating. 4 And when he lies down, you shall mark the place where he lies down, and shall come and lift up the covering of his feet, and shall lie down; and he shall tell you what you shall do. 5 And Ruth said to her, All that you shall say, I will do. 6 And she went down to the threshing floor, and did according to all that her mother-in-law enjoined her. 7 And Boaz ate, and his heart was glad,⁠ and he came to lie down by the side of the heap of grain; and she came secretly, and lifted up the covering of his feet.⁠ 8 And at midnight the man was amazed, and troubled, and look, a woman lay at his feet. 9 And he said, Who are you? and she said, I am your female servant Ruth; spread therefore your skirt over your female servant, for you are a near relation. 10 And Boaz said, May you be blessed by the Lord God, my daughter, for you have made your latter kindness greater than the former, in that you do not follow after young men, whether any be poor or rich. 11 And now do not be afraid, my daughter, whatever you shall say I will do to you; for all the tribe of my people knows that you are a woman of strength.⁠ 12 And now I am truly akin to you; nevertheless there is a relative nearer than I. 13 Lodge here for the night, and it shall be in the morning, if he will fulfill a relative's duty to you, well, let him do it: but if he will not fulfill a relative's duty to you, I will fulfill the relative's duty to you, as the Lord lives; lie down till the morning. 14 And she lay at his feet until the morning; and she rose up before a man could know his neighbor; and Boaz said, Let it not be known that a woman came into the floor. 15 And he said to her, Bring the apron that is upon you: and she held it, and he measured six measures of barley, and put them upon her, and she went into the city. 16 And Ruth went in to her mother-in-law, and she said to her, Who are you, my daughter? and Ruth told her all that the man had done to her. 17 And she said to her, He gave me these six measures of barley, for he said to me, Do not go empty-handed to your mother-in-law. 18 And she said, Sit still, my daughter, until you shall know how the matter will fall out; for the man will not rest until the matter be accomplished this day.

Texts in conversation

Compare Ruth 3:11 and LXX Ruth 3:11

Hebrew Bible · Septuagint

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Summary

In the Hebrew version of Ruth, she is described as a woman of nobility, the same word given to Boaz, pairing them as a matched couple. The Greek Septuagint uses a different word for each, so the deliberate link between the two disappears.

Passages

Ruth 3:11

Hebrew Bible
10 He said, “May you be rewarded by the Lord, my dear! This act of devotion is greater than what you did before. For you have not sought to marry one of the young men, whether rich or poor. 11 Now, my dear, don’t worry! I intend to do for you everything you propose, for everyone at the town gate42 knows that you are a woman of noble character.43 12 Now yes, it is true that I am a guardian, but there is another guardian who is a closer relative than I am.
300–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Ruth

LXX Ruth 3:11

Septuagint
10 And Boaz said, May you be blessed by the Lord God, my daughter, for you have made your latter kindness greater than the former, in that you do not follow after young men, whether any be poor or rich. 11 And now do not be afraid, my daughter, whatever you shall say I will do to you; for all the tribe of my people knows that you are a woman of strength. 12 And now I am truly akin to you; nevertheless there is a relative nearer than I.
100–1 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Ruth

References

... Second, when speaking of people, their functions and characteristics, the Septuagint tends to introduce distinctions that are foreign to the Hebrew text. Thus Ruth has δύναμις (3:11; 4:11), while Boaz has ἰσχύς (2:1) where the Masoretic Text has the same noun in both cases (חיל). Also striking is the vocabulary of the semantic field of service/slavery which is used in chapters 2–3 in the description of the subordinates of Boaz. The Masoretic Text uses six different nouns without apparently any logic to their use. The Septuagint translates these terms by a range of equivalents without aiming at a concordant translation. Instead, the translator through his very choice of words draws a precise differentiation between Ruth and the other women. ...
Eberhard Bons, “Ruth,” in The T&T Clark Companion to the Septuagint, ed. James K. Aitken, Bloomsbury Companions (London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2015), 122.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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