copulntivo, hns occasioned difficulty. It is ancient times, it is best to avoid a specific thoroughly Hcbrnistin. But of course it nnd to employ a generic translation, Whe~ doos not hero introduce to notico something Boaz said, "Give me the wrapper," he did merely added to whnt goes before, of the not ask that it should be handed to him. nnturn of 11 parting injunction or request He had already put his hand upon it, anrl addressed to Ruth. The articulated phrase was engaged in hollowing out a scoop or "the woman," as distinguished from "a cavity. Hence he said, on the one hand, woman," the expression in King James's "Allow me," and, on the other, "Hold on version, renclers such an interpretation im- by it." And he measured six measures of possible. The To.rgumist explains thus: barley. The particular measure referred to " nnd he said to his young men." But the is unspecified. It is not only mere dream whole tenor of the preceding narrative pro- on the part of the Targumist, but it is dream ceeds on the assumption that there were no involving almost sheer impossibility, that servants on the premises or at hand. Other the measures were seahs, i. e. two ephahs. Rabbis, and after them Luther and Cover- The Targumist had to bolster up his dream dale, interpret thus: "and he said in his by adding another, viz., that Ruth got mira- heart," or, "and he thought." Unnatural. culously strength to carry the load. Load, The difficulty is to be credited, or debited, indeed, there undoubtedly was ; and no doubt to simplicity of composition, and the habit it would be as great as she could conveniently of just adding thing to thing aggregatively; carry. And likewise, in accordance with instead of interweaving them into a complex the primitive simplicity of manners, the unity. In the course of their many inter- magnitude of the burden would be demon- changes of thought and feeling, Boaz had stration to Naomi of Boa.z's satisfaction with expressed a desire, both for Ruth's sake and the "measures" which, in full motherliness for his own, that it should not be known of spirit, she had planned, And he went that she had come by night to the threshing- to the city. The -Vulgate and Syriac ver- f!oor. The narrator, instead of introducing sions, as also Cnstellio, Coverdale, and vari- this expression of desire in the way in which ous other translators, but not Luther, have it would directly fall from the lips of Boaz, assumed that we sho~d read l:<=l,l;Jl, "and " Let it not be known that thou didst. come," she went," instead of ~:;i;l, "and he went." gives it in the indirect form of speech, the oratio obliqua, as his own statement o{ the So too Wright. But there seems to be no case. It is as if he had introduced a pare.n- good reason for making the change. If there thesis or added a note in the margin. The had been no division into verses, then the departure of both Boaz and Ruth on their awa( >-...,yoµ,vov ci7~instead of tl'.)~- respective routes, or in their respective order was most probably not a later form, as of sequence, would have been recorded close Berthcau supposes, but nn older Hebrew together: "and 'he' went to the city, and form that had died out of use long before 'she' went to her mother-in-law" -each, let the days of the Masori tcs. us bear in mind, with the heart elate. Ver. 15.-And he said, Allow me the Ver. 16.-And she went to her mother-· wrapper which is upon thee, and hold on by in.-law. And she said, Who art thou, my it; and she held on by it; and he measured daughter l And she narrated to her all six measures of barley; and he put it on that the man had done to her. The ques- her, and went to the city. The expression tion, "Who art thou, my daughter 1" is not "Allow me," literally, "Give (me)," was put by Naomi, as Drusius supposes, because a current phrase of courtesy. The verb it was still so dusk that she could not pro- employed-:l!J!-was common Semitic pro- perly distinguish Ruth. The address, "My perty, ere yet the mother-tongue was sub- daughter," shows that she hnd no difficulty divided into Hebrew, Syriac, Chaldee, Arabic. in determining who the visitor was. But The wrapper which ia upon thee. The there is something arch intended. "Art word for wi·apper occurs nowhere else except thou Boaz's betrothed 1" Michaelis trans- in Isa. iii. 22, where it is translated, in King lates, "What art thou 1" Unwarrantably James's version, "wimple." Hore it is e.s regards the letter, but correctly as regards rendered "vail," and, in the margin, "sheet the spirit of the interrogatory. or apron,"-all of them unhappy transla• Ver. 17.-Andehe said, These six measures tions. So is the rendering of the Targumist, of barley he gave to me; for he said, Thou ~;n~o, i. e. sudarium, or" napkin." N. G. must not go empty to thy mother-in-law. Schroder discusses the word at great length The C'tib omission of " to me " after " for in his masterly 'Com.mentarius Philologico- he said" is most likely to be the original Criticus de Vestitu Mulieru.m Hebrrearum,' reading. A fastidious Rabbi would rather pp. 247-277. He would render it pallium originate this insertion than the omission. or palla. In couseqnence of national pec~1- Yer. 18.-And she said, Sit still, my 1ia1ities in articles of dress, especially lD dl\ughter, till that thou know how the affair E2 THE BOOK OF RUTH. [CH, III, 1-18,
will fall out, for the man will not rest out." In the Hebrew the noun is without unleBB he complete the affe.ir to-day. In the article. But in English it must be sup• sayin.e;, " Sit still, my dl\ughter," it is as if plied, unless a plural be employed-" how Naomi had said, " There is no occasion for 't~ings' will fell out." "1;1, tliing, L e. ~stless anxiety. Let your heart be at ease thi'rllc. Compare the corresponding relation till that thou know how the affair will fell between the German sa,che and sagm,