And she said, I pray you, let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves: so she came, and hath continued even from the morning until now, that she tarried a little in the house. (Ruth 2:7)
Or, “without resting even for a moment” (RSV). This is the reading of the LXX, the Syriac, and the Vulgate. The Hebrew text in its present form is not clear, as is evident from the KJV. In Oriental lands farmers live in villages or towns, and the fields they till are out in the surrounding countryside, often at some considerable distance. In going out to glean, Ruth had left “the city” (vs. 2-4), and at night she returned to it (vs. 17, 18), but not during the day.