וַתֹּ֖אמֶר ר֣וּת הַמּוֹאֲבִיָּ֑ה גַּ֣ם ׀ כִּי־אָמַ֣ר אֵלַ֗י עִם־הַנְּעָרִ֤ים אֲשֶׁר־לִי֙ תִּדְבָּקִ֔ין עַ֣ד אִם־כִּלּ֔וּ אֵ֥ת כָּל־הַקָּצִ֖יר אֲשֶׁר־לִֽי׃
At sinabi ni Ruth na Moabita, “Bukod pa rito, sinabi rin niya sa akin, ‘Manatili kang malapit sa aking mga binata hanggang sa matapos nila ang buong pag-aani ko.’”
Tze'enah Ure'enah
“And Ruth said” [2:21]. Ruth said: he said to me, stay close to my youths until the completion of the harvest. One can ask about this verse, why did Ruth lie, that Boaz told her to stay near his youths? Why would she attribute to Boaz that he would tell a woman to stay with his male servants? Scripture states ex- plicitly that Boaz said, “stay close to my girls” [2:8]. This means, stay with my maidservants. However, our sages say that Ruth learned to lie because she was a Moabite. Therefore, the verse says, “Ruth the Moabite,” that is to say, because she came from Moabites, and that is how she spoke.56Ruth Rabbah, 5.11.