Ruth 3:9
And he said to her: Who art thou? And she answered: I am Ruth thy handmaid: spread thy coverlet over thy servant, for thou art a near kinsman.
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The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- et ait illi : Quæ es ? Illaque respondit : Ego sum Ruth ancilla tua : expande pallium tuum super famulam tuam, quia propinquus es.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- εἶπεν δέ Τίς εἶ σύ; ἡ δὲ εἶπεν Ἐγώ εἰμι Ῥοὺθ ἡ δούλη σου, καὶ περιβαλεῖς τὸ πτερύγιόν σου ἐπὶ τὴν δούλην σου, ὅτι ἀγχιστεὺς εἶ σύ.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וַיֹּ֖אמֶר מִי אָ֑תּ וַתֹּ֗אמֶר אָנֹכִי֙ ר֣וּת אֲמָתֶ֔ךָ וּפָרַשְׂתָּ֤ כְנָפֶ֨ךָ֙ עַל אֲמָ֣תְךָ֔ כִּ֥י גֹאֵ֖ל אָֽתָּה
Haydock's commentary
Kinsman. Hebrew, "a redeemer;" (Calmet) one bound to defend and to espouse a brother's widow, if others more nearly akin refuse. (Haydock)
Ruth modestly admonishes him of this duty, and begs that he would take her to wife, (Calmet) as he might then have done without any other formality. (Serar. q. vii.)
We find a similar expression [in] Ezechiel xvi. 8., and Deuteronomy xxii. 80. Some think that she only asked for protection. The custom of the husband, stretching a part of his garment over his bride, was perhaps already established among the Hebrews. (Calmet)
Hebrew and Septuagint, "stretch thy wing over," &c. Chaldean, "Let thy name be invoked upon thy handmaid, to take me to wife." (Menochius; Isaias iv. 1.)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.