Ruth 3:15
Who went into the city: he or she?
After Boaz loads six measures of barley onto Ruth's shawl, the standard Hebrew says "he went into the city." The Greek and Latin in the library, and the King James Version, say "she went." Many Hebrew manuscripts are reported to read "she" as well.
Manuscript variant: witnesses differ in wording
The family tree
Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.
✓ contains it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives
- Same line, through lost copies
- Translation
Two readings
- "He went" (MT)
- Boaz goes to the city to settle the matter at the gate (4:1); Ruth goes home separately (3:16).
- "She went" (versions)
- Ruth carries the barley into town to Naomi, which leads directly into 3:16.
- Modern translations
- Divided: some follow the Hebrew (JPS, BSB), others the feminine (NRSV, NIV).
Every witness, in order
Unknown (debated)
Original Ruth
No original survives.
Translated c. 2nd–1st century BC
Septuagint (library text: Giguet's French)
How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.
il l'en chargea, et elle rentra dans la ville
he loaded her with it, and she went back into the city
One Greek text via Giguet's French; not checked against Quast's Göttingen edition.
c. AD 400
Jerome's Vulgate
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).
Quæ portans ingressa est civitatem
carrying it, she went into the city
Feminine.
AD 1008
Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.
וַיָּשֶׁת עָלֶיהָ וַיָּבֹא הָעִיר
and he laid it on her, and he went into the city
Masculine verb. A feminine form (וַתָּבֹא) is reported in many medieval Hebrew manuscripts; those manuscripts were not checked here.
1611
King James Bible
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).
and she went into the city
The KJV follows the versions here, not the printed Hebrew.
1917
JPS Tanakh (1917)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: JPS Tanakh (1917).
and he went into the city
Follows the Masoretic text.
What changed, and why
A one-letter difference in Hebrew (י or ת at the start of the verb) changes the subject. It does not change the story's events. This is an ancient variant, not an error in the site's digital text.
What the evidence shows
- The Masoretic Text reads "he went." WLC checked.
- The library's Greek and the Vulgate read "she went." One Greek text via Giguet's French; not checked against Quast's Göttingen edition.
- Many Hebrew manuscripts read "she went." Reported in the specialist literature; not checked here.
Sources
- eBible, translation witnesses for Ruth 3:15 ↗
- E. Tov, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible, 3rd ed. (2012)
Related lessons
- The Threshing Floor and the Nearer Redeemer →Naomi sends Ruth, washed and anointed, to the threshing floor at night, to uncover Boaz's feet and lie down. At midnight he wakes startled. Ruth asks him to spread his garment's wing over her, for he is a redeemer. Boaz praises her, promises to act, but warns that a nearer redeemer has the first right. He sends her home before dawn with six measures of barley.
- How Ruth Came to Us →Who wrote Ruth, and when? Why is it among the Writings in Jewish Bibles but after Judges in Christian ones? What do the four Dead Sea Scroll copies preserve? How did the Greek translation come down, and why is Ruth read at Shavuot?