Again, the answer which Ruth gives in verse 13 represents a type of poetic structure. The verse consists of three lines with the following meter: 3 + 2, 2 + 2, 3 + 2; and the literal translation of these units may be given as // You are most gracious to me, my lord / for you have comforted me // and spoken kindly to / your maidservant // though I am not / one of your maidservants. // Though it would certainly be interesting to be able to reproduce something of the poetic structure of verse 13, rarely can one do so. Not only is the passage very short, but it does not have the type of content (elaborate figures of speech and condensation of information) which is typical of most poetry.
You are very kind to me may be rendered in some languages as “you are very good to me,” but in Hebrew this is literally “I have found favor in your eyes.” (See comments on verse 10.) Though this Hebrew expression does seem rather elaborate, it is essentially not different in meaning from a modern English expression, “Thank you, sir.” See 1 Samuel 1.18; 16.4; see also Joüon, Commentaire, page 56; so rightly A.B. Ehrlich, Randglossen zur hebräischen Bibel VII, 1914, ad loc.; W. Rudolph and G. Gerleman, op. cit., ad loc.; compare also Baumgartner, s.v. chen: “Ausdruck des Dankes.” The translators of New English Bible apparently felt that Ruth’s expression of thanks is sufficiently expressed in the remaining part of the verse, and therefore they employed for this first expression merely “Indeed, sir.”
Some translators feel that the imperfect tense of the Hebrew verb “to find” must refer to some future event or must express a subjunctive mood, but this seems far from necessary. For the translations, see NAB, BJ, and Dhorme. For the commentaries, see especially those of Haller and Hertzberg. For the instantaneous aspect of the yiqtol form of the verb matsaʾ, see Joüon, par. 113 and 111. The only English translation doing justice to this aspect is the one by Moffatt: “I am finding favour with you, my lord….”
What is rendered as sir in Good News Translation is in Hebrew literally “my lord” or “my master.” It is, however, merely a conventional term of respectful address, and the translator should employ the equivalent form in the receptor language. In some instances this will mean the use of an appropriate honorific or a form of address indicative of the difference in status between Ruth and Boaz. There may be certain complications in languages which employ the same word for “master” or “sir” that they use for “Yahweh.” These complications have been dealt with elsewhere. See also Translator’s Handbook on Luke on 1.6.
The phrase speaking gently represents what is in Hebrew literally “have spoken to the heart of your servant.” In Hebrew the use of the third person, “your servant,” emphasizes the respect which Ruth shows for Boaz. In modern English it is much better to use the first person, by speaking gently to me.
Speaking gently may be rendered in some languages as “speaking kindly to,” “speaking with good words to,” or even, idiomatically, as “speaking with smiling eyes,” or “speaking with a soft face.”
Even though I am not the equal of one of your own servants is literally in Hebrew “though I am not like one of your servants.” This expression makes perfectly good sense, and there seems to be no reason why one should follow some of the ancient versions which employ different textual bases. Septuagint reads: “See, I’ll be as one of your servants,” by deleting the negation marker loʾ. In an effort not to delete a word of the text, it has been proposed several times to change the vocalization into luʾ, a particle with the meaning “if only,” “oh that!” or “would that!” The whole results in a translation such as is found in NAB: “would indeed that I were a servant of yours!” A similar translation has been proposed in a note in NEB (it is impossible to know the source of the translation in the NEB). Haller, op. cit., ad loc., is in favor of this interpretation, whereas more recent commentators are rightly unwilling even to change the vocalization of the Hebrew text. To emphasize that this is an expression of Ruth’s humbleness, Good News Translation translates the equal of.
Quoted with permission from de Waard, Jan and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Ruth. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1978, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .