What Does Ruth 2:18 Mean in the King James?
And she took it up, and went into the city: and her mother in law saw what she had gleaned: and she brought forth, and gave to her that she had reserved after she was sufficed.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The meal’s remainder is not an afterthought; it is how Ruth’s fullness reaches Naomi.
THE MEANING
Ruth comes home with provision for herself and opens her bundle for Naomi. What remains after Ruth is satisfied becomes a share in Naomi’s life. Fullness does not end with Ruth here; it passes from hand to hand.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that provision is only for the person who receives it first: what remains after Ruth is full becomes Naomi’s share.
THE ROOT
הוֹתִרָה
hotirah
GROWS FROM
י־ת־ר
y-t-r
To remain, be left over, or exceed.
Here, “reserved” carries the concrete sense of what remains after Ruth has eaten her fill. The root turns that remainder into the verse’s central movement: what remains with Ruth becomes what she gives Naomi.
ALSO GROWS
yeter: Remainder, surplus, or what is left.
יֶתֶר
It makes the food Ruth brings forth legible as what remains after her own portion.
yoter: More, or what remains beyond a measure.
יוֹתֵר
It connects the idea of “more” to the remainder Ruth carries home and shares.
מִשָּׂבְעָהּ
miśśāveʿāh
GROWS FROM
שׂ־ב־ע
ś-b-ʿ
To be full, satiated, or satisfied.
“sufficed” in this verse is miśśāveʿāh. The word names fullness, not merely having enough to continue. Ruth’s giving follows her own satisfaction, and the verse holds that fullness and the remaining food together.
ALSO GROWS
śāvēaʿ: Full or satisfied.
שָׂבֵעַ
It names Ruth’s state before she brings out what remains.
śōvaʿ: Fullness or satiety.
שֹׂבַע
It reveals that the remainder comes from a meal that has already satisfied Ruth.
THE PATTERN
Provision becomes communal when what remains after one person’s need is met reaches another’s need.
And when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating.But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality:Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, And laid them down at the apostles’ feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.THE THREAD
And Boaz said unto her, At mealtime come thou hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And she sat beside the reapers: and he reached her parched corn, and she did eat, and was sufficed, and left.The same שׂבע (ś-b-ʿ), “to be full or satisfied,” appears as Ruth eats and is sufficed. Verse 18 brings that fullness home: what remains after her meal becomes Naomi’s share.
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