What Does Ruth 3:2 Mean?
And now, is not Boaz one we know, with whose young women you were? Look, tonight he winnows barley on the threshing floor.
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.
King James wording
King James Version
And now is not Boaz of our kindred, with whose maidens thou wast? Behold, he winnoweth barley to night in the threshingfloor.THE KEY
The word for “kindred” grows from “know,” placing a recognized relationship beside barley being scattered for winnowing.
THE MEANING
The verse holds two things together: a family connection already known and barley being winnowed tonight. At the threshing floor, the harvest is separated, grain freed from what cannot nourish.
THE ROOT
מֹדַעְתָּנוּ
mōdaʿtēnū
GROWS FROM
ידע
to know, recognize, perceive
“one we know” in this verse is mōdaʿtēnū. The word translated “kindred” belongs to the family of words for knowing. The relationship is presented as a recognized connection, not just a label for family status.
ALSO GROWS
yādaʿ: to know, recognize
יָדַע
The verb at the root of the word connects kinship with being known.
daʿat: knowledge, knowing
דַּעַת
This noun from the same root shows the shared seed behind knowing and the recognized relationship named here.
זֹרֶה
zōreh
GROWS FROM
זרה
to scatter or disperse; in this setting, to winnow
“winnows” in this verse is zōreh. The word for winnowing carries the action of scattering: grain is tossed so the chaff can be carried away. The verse’s harvest reaches usable grain through separation, by releasing what cannot nourish.
ALSO GROWS
zārâ: to scatter, disperse, or winnow
זָרָה
This verb is the root itself and shows the scattering held inside the act of winnowing.
mizreh: a winnowing fan or shovel
מִזְרֶה
This tool from the same root is used to toss grain so the wind can separate it from chaff.
THE PATTERN
Winnowing makes a harvest usable by separating grain from chaff.
The oxen and the young donkeys that serve the ground will eat salted mash, which is winnowed with the fork and the shovel.Whose winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly clean out his threshing floor, and gather the wheat into his storehouse; but the chaff he will burn up in a fire that cannot be put out.THE THREAD
And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband, a mighty man of strength, of the family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz.Ruth 2:1 uses the same Hebrew word family for Boaz’s relation to Naomi’s husband, rooted in knowing. Ruth 3:2 repeats that recognized connection and places him at work in the barley harvest, making kinship part of the scene from the start.
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