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Ruth 3:17

in Ruth 3

And she said, “He gave me these six measures of barley, for he said, ‘Do not go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And she said, These six measures of barley gave he me; for he said, Go not empty unto thy mother-in-law.

KJV

And she said, These six measures of barley gave he me; for he said to me, Go not empty unto thy mother in law.

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This verse in Ruth 3

Commentary

4 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

He gave me these six measures of barley

on Ruth 3:17-18

Boaz sends the barley with a word for Naomi, "Do not go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed". The Hebrew behind empty is the word Naomi used of herself at 1:21. Her summary of her life is answered by grain before it is answered by a child.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

And she said, these six measures of barley gave he me,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

Naomi's care for her daughter's comfort is without doubt very commendable, and is recorded for imitation. She had no thoughts of marrying herself, ch. i. But, though she that was old had resolved upon a perpetual widowhood, yet she was far from the thoughts of confining her daughter-in-law to it, that was young.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

six measures of barley--Hebrew, "six seahs," a seah contained about two gallons and a half, six of which must have been rather a heavy load for a woman.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase

The words behind it

13 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַתֹּ֕אמֶרand she said

    vatomerH559 →5305 times

  • שֵׁשׁ־[the] six

    shesh-H8337 →

  • הַשְּׂעֹרִ֥יםthe barley<s>

    haseorimH8184 →34 times

  • הָאֵ֖לֶּה<the> these

    haelehH428 →

  • נָ֣תַןhe gave

    natanH5414 →2011 times

  • לִ֑יto <the> me

    li

  • כִּ֚יfor

    kiH3588 →4482 times

  • אָמַ֣ר אֵלַ֔יhe said to me

    ʾamar ʾaliH559 →H413 →5305 times

  • אַל־may not

    ʾal-H408 →724 times

  • תָּב֥וֹאִיyou go

    tavoiH935 →2568 times

  • רֵיקָ֖םempty

    reikamH7387 →

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • חֲמוֹתֵֽךְ׃mother-in-law your

    chamotekhH2545 →11 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Where this verse is studied

About Ruth

Summer, or Ruth and Boaz, Nicolas Poussin, 1660 to 1664. Public domain.
Summer, or Ruth and Boaz, Nicolas Poussin, 1660 to 1664. Public domain.
Ruth: the study guide →Read Ruth 3 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Ruth 3 →