What Does Ruth 2:4 Mean?

And look, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said to the reapers, The LORD be with you. And they answered him, The LORD bless you.

Ruth 2:4 · SDV

Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.

Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.

This verse in the King James

King James wording

King James Version

And, behold, Boaz came from Beth-lehem, and said unto the reapers, The LORD be with you. And they answered him, The LORD bless thee.

THE KEY

Blessing moves both ways: Boaz speaks the LORD’s presence over the workers, and they speak blessing back over him.

THE MEANING

A greeting in the middle of work makes the field a place where the LORD’s presence is spoken aloud. Blessing passes between Boaz and the reapers; each speaks good over the other.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the assumption that blessing only travels downward from authority: the reapers return blessing to Boaz.

THE ROOT

יְבָרֶכְךָ

yevarekhekha

GROWS FROM

ברך

To kneel; to bless.

The Hebrew verb shares the root ⁨ברך⁩ with words for blessing and knee. That family lets the workers’ reply carry an image of bending toward another, while the verb itself means “bless.”

ALSO GROWS

berakhah: Blessing

בְּרָכָה

This noun shares the root ⁨ברך⁩ and names what the reapers speak back to Boaz.

berekh: Knee

בֶּרֶךְ

This word shares the root’s consonants and preserves its kneeling sense beside its meaning of blessing.

THE PATTERN

Blessing is spoken across relationships as a way of naming good and the LORD’s presence over another.

The LORD bless you, and guard you.

Numbers 6:24 · SDVThe blessing spoken over the reapers in Ruth echoes this direct invocation of the LORD’s good over another.

Nor do those who pass by say, "The blessing of the LORD be upon you; we bless you in the nature of the LORD."

Psalm 129:8 · SDVLike the exchange in Ruth, blessing is spoken between people in an everyday encounter.

Not giving back evil for evil, or insult for insult, but on the contrary, speaking good, knowing that you are called to this, so that you may inherit good speech.

1 Peter 3:9 · SDVBlessing remains something people speak toward one another, even when the exchange is difficult.

THE THREAD

The LORD bless you, and guard you.

Numbers 6:24 · SDV

Both verses use the Hebrew root ⁨ברך⁩ for blessing. Numbers gives the words “The LORD bless thee”; Ruth lets the same blessing circulate in a field, as the reapers speak it back to Boaz.

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