17 So she went on getting together the heads of grain till evening; and after crushing out the seed it came to about an ephah of grain. 18 And she took it up and went into the town; and she let her mother-in-law see what she had got, and after taking enough for herself she gave her the rest. 19 And her mother-in-law said to her, Where did you take up the grain today, and where were you working? May a blessing be on him who gave such attention to you. And she gave her mother-in-law an account of where she had been working, and said, The name of the man with whom I was working today is Boaz. 20 And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, May the blessing of the Lord, who has at all times been kind to the living and to the dead, be on him. And Naomi said to her, The man is of our family, one of our near relations. 21 And Ruth the Moabitess said, Truly, he said to me, Keep near my young men till all my grain is cut. 22 And Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, It is better, my daughter, for you to go out with his servant-girls, so that no danger may come to you in another field. 23 So she kept near the servant-girls of Boaz to take up the grain till the cutting of the early grain and the cutting of the late grain were ended; and she went on living 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.