Conservative Theology

Ruth 2:3

JB

This verse was a little tricky.  Here's the verse and my notes:

And she went1 and entered2 and gleaned3 in the field after the harvesters.  And she encountered4,5 by chance6,7 the portion of the field [that belonged]8 to Boaz who [was]9 from the clan of Elimelech.

  1. Qal Imperfect 3fs + vav-consecutive
  2. Qal Imperfect 3fs + vav-consecutive
  3. Qal Imperfect 3fs + vav-consecutive
  4. Qal Imperfect 3ms + vav-consecutive
  5. Note that this is a masculine construct, but we interpret it feminine from the context.
  6. This word is from the same root as "encounter" 
  7. This is an accusitive adverb.  That is, Hebrew has few adverbs.  Instead, they often use nouns without an article to function as an adverb.  This noun means "a chance" so we interpret it "by chance".  Also, for some reason, this is written with an extra qamets at the end, and the dictionary says that this is a suffixed form, but I couldn't figure out what suffix that was supposed to be.
  8. Hebrew has no verb for "to have".  Instead they say "it was to him" to say "he has".  In addition, the verb "to be" usually has to be supplied as well.  The Hebrew just has "to Boaz", and so we interpreted that as an ownership statement.
  9. This verb was supplied.

Vocuabulary:

  • קצר - to reap or harvest
  • חלקה - portion (of land)
  • קרה - to encounter, meet, or befall
  • מקרה - accident, chance, or fortune
  • חלק - to divide or share