17 So she gleaned in the field until evening . Then she beat out what she had gleaned , and it was about an ephah of barley . 18 She took it up and went into the city , and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned . She also took it out and gave Naomi what she had left after she was satisfied . 19 Her mother-in-law then said to her, "Where did you glean today and where did you work ? May he who took notice of you be blessed ." So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said , "The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz ." 20 Naomi said to her daughter-in-law , " May he be blessed of the Lord who has not withdrawn his kindness to the living and to the dead ." Again Naomi said to her, "The man is our relative , he is one of our closest relatives ." 21 Then Ruth the Moabitess said , "Furthermore , he said to me, 'You should stay close to my servants until e they have finished all my harvest .' " 22 Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law , "It is good , my daughter , that you go out with his maids , so that others do not fall upon you in another field ." 23 So she stayed close by the maids of Boaz in order to glean until the end of the barley harvest and the wheat harvest . And she lived with her mother-in-law .
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Ruth 2:17-23
Commentary on Ruth 2:17-23
(Read Ruth 2:17-23)
It encourages industry, that in all labour, even that of gleaning, there is profit. Ruth was pleased with what she gained by her own industry, and was careful to secure it. Let us thus take care that we lose not those things which we have wrought, which we have gained for our souls' good, Genesis 34. Ruth kept at home, and helped to maintain her mother, and went out on no other errand than to get provision for her; her humility and industry ended in preferment.