Verse Lens · Concise explanation
Ruth 2:17 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 17. 17So she gleaned in the field until even, and beat out that she had gleaned: and it was about an ephah of barley.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse credits Ruth's labor through evening and records a substantial threshed yield without exact modern conversion.
Read It With
- Ruth 2:14–17
Read Ruth 2:14–17 together. This verse credits Ruth's labor through evening and records a substantial threshed yield without exact modern conversion. Read Ruth 2:14–17 as one complete scene: Boaz seats Ruth with the workers and gives more than enough food; he then orders the men to let her glean among the sheaves and pull out grain deliberately, and Ruth works until evening.
Why This Verse Appears Here
The narrative shows how a landholder's generosity can alter access and yield while still crediting Ruth's day of work. Within that movement, this verse credits Ruth's labor through evening and records a substantial threshed yield without exact modern conversion.
Read Ruth 2:14–17 together
Why these verses belong together: Meal inclusion, changed work rules, deliberate grain, labor, and yield constitute one provision movement.
Verse 14. 14 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.
Verse 15. 15 And when she was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, Let her glean even among the sheaves, and reproach her not:
Verse 16. 16 And let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her, and leave them, that she may glean them, and rebuke her not.
Verse 17. 17 So she gleaned in the field until even, and beat out that she had gleaned: and it was about an ephah of barley.
What Remains True
Ruth works until evening and processes a substantial yield; the story honors labor without promising identical outcomes.
How It Can Shape Life
- Recognize effort and quantify results cautiously, refusing to shame people whose hard work produces less under different conditions.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Ruth 2:14–17 — A Shared Meal and Deliberate AbundanceSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
Ancient ephah conversions remain approximate, and grain weight varies.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: Ruth 2:14–17, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Ruth
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew forms, morphology, repeated roots, clause relationships, names, and base wording behind translation discussion.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Ruth.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 2:14–17
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Ruth with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Material lexical, grammatical, textual, social, legal, genealogical, and translation notes within the unit.
Exact location: NET Bible Ruth PDF, printed pp. 494–498, translation and translator notes on 2:14–17
Open source ↗