Septuagint (LXX):  eipen (3SAAI) de tis ei (2SPAI) su e de eipen (3SAAI) ego eimi (1SPAI)  Routh e doule sou kai peribaleis (2SFAI) to pterugion sou epi ten doulen sou hoti agchisteus ei (2SPAI) su 

 Boaz recognized the shadowy figure as a woman, as his question "Who are you?" uses the feminine singular pronoun 'at.

I am Ruth you maid She uses the Hebrew word  'amah (0519) which is applied both to literal slaves and to those who figuratively call themselves by this term as an expression of humility and submission. Abigail for example fell at David's feet

"and said, "On me alone, my lord, be the blame. And please let your maidservant speak to you, and listen to the words of your maidservant." (1Sa 25:24)

Bathsheba addressed her husband David saying

My lord, you swore to your maidservant by the LORD your God, saying, 'Surely your son Solomon shall be king after me and he shall sit on my throne. (1Ki 1:17).

The Greek Septuagint translates it with the word ''doule" meaning one whose will is submitted to the will of the master. Thus Ruth is clearly willing to humble herself before Boaz.

Jesus taught

everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted. (Lk 14:11) (Comment: This promise certainly was proven true in the life of Ruth the Moabitess)

As a husband you may wish your wife submitted to you the way Ruth submits to Naomi and to Boaz. Then ask yourself whether you are providing the kind of godly leadership, care, and concern that Boaz showed towards Ruth? Now on the other hand, many wives wish they had a husband who loved, cared, and treated them they way Boaz did towards Ruth. But are they showing the same kind of humble submission and respect Ruth showed to Boaz? Ruth is a very practical book, especially regarding the relationship between men and women, especially between husbands and wives, and for these reasons alone it merits frequent study and meditation to "glean" the hidden treasures of wisdom buried in these four profound chapters.

Ruth your maid Note that Ruth did not call herself Ruth the Moabitess but “your handmaid” which certainly suggests as some have surmised that Ruth was making a new beginning. Ruth is mentioned twelve times, five references as the Moabitess (Ru 1:22; 2:2, 21; 4:5, 10-see notes Ru 1:22; 2:2; 2:21; 4:5; 4:10).

SO SPREAD YOUR COVERING OVER YOUR MAID: (Dt 22:30, Ezek 16:8)

Make me your wife according to God’s law, for you are my close relative (TLB)

Because you are a close relative, you are responsible for taking care of me. So please marry me (TEV)

Spread your cover over me, because you are a relative who is supposed to take care of me (NCV)

I am Ruth, your servant. Marry your servant, for you are a guardian of the family interests (NET)

Spread your wing [of protection] over your maidservant, for you are a next of kin (AMP)

Spread the skirt of your cloak over your servant for you have the right of redemption over me (NJB)

I am your servant Ruth: take your servant as wife, for you are a near relation (BBE)

Ruth reminded Boaz of his own words, and requested him to become the fulfiller of his own prayer. The word for corner is the same as that for `wing' in 2:12 (note) Ruth reminded Boaz of his own words, and requested him to become the fulfiller of his own prayer.

To raise the skirts of a woman's garment is a symbol of insult and disgrace Jer 13:22, 26; Nah. 3:5, whereas to cover her with one's skirt was a token of matrimony.  No doubt the idiom reflected the custom, still practiced by some in the Middle East, of a man throwing a garment over the woman he has decided to take as his wife, and symbolizing protection as well as fellowship.

Spread (05203) (paras) is commonly used to describe wings as "being spread" or open fully.

There are 39 uses in the OT - Gen. 31:28; Exod. 23:11; Num. 11:31; Deut. 32:15; Jdg. 6:13; Ruth 3:9; 1 Sam. 4:2; 10:2; 12:22; 17:20, 22, 28; 30:16; 2 Sam. 5:18, 22; 1 Ki. 8:57; 2 Ki. 21:14; Neh. 10:31; Ps. 27:9; 78:60; 94:14; Prov. 1:8; 6:20; 17:14; Isa. 2:6; 16:8; 21:15; 32:14; 33:23; Jer. 7:29; 12:7; 15:6; 23:33, 39; Ezek. 29:5; 31:12; 32:4; Hos. 12:14; Amos 5:2. The NAS renders paras - abandon(7), abandoned(5), allow(1), cast away(1), ceased(1), drawn(1), fall(1), forego(1), forsake(3), forsaken(2), forsook(1), hangs slack(1), leave(2), left(5), lie fallow(1), neglected(1), spread (6).

In a parallel passage in Ezekiel we see God speaking to Israel reminding her

"I passed by you and saw you, and behold, you were at the time for love; so I spread (paras) My skirt over you and covered your nakedness. I also swore to you and entered into a covenant with you so that you became Mine," declares the Lord GOD." (Ezek 16:8)

In this metaphorical account in Ezek 16:8, God spreads his skirt over naked Jerusalem as an act of protection and as a precursor to marriage.

To spread one’s mantle over a person meant to claim that person for yourself. For example in (1Kings 19:19) we Elijah finds

"Elisha the son of Shaphat, while he was plowing with twelve pairs of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth. And Elijah passed over to him and threw his mantle on him."

Covering (03671) (kanaph translated with Septuagint (LXX) pterugion = tarret or pinnacle) refers to an edge or extremity; specifically of a bird and thus refers to a bird's wing as used in Ru 2:12 ("under Whose wings" ) referring figuratively to the wings of the Almighty God. Now Ruth would be under the wings of Boaz, her beloved husband. What a beautiful picture of marriage! Is that a picture of your marriage?

There are 85 uses of kanaph in the OT - Gen. 1:21; 7:14; Exod. 19:4; 25:20; 37:9; Lev. 1:17; Num. 15:38; Deut. 4:17; 22:12, 30; 27:20; 32:11; Ruth 2:12; 3:9; 1 Sam. 15:27; 24:4f, 11; 2 Sam. 22:11; 1 Ki. 6:24, 27; 8:6f; 2 Chr. 3:11ff; 5:7f; Job 37:3; 38:13; 39:13, 26; Ps. 17:8; 18:10; 36:7; 57:1; 61:4; 63:7; 68:13; 78:27; 91:4; 104:3; 139:9; 148:10; Prov. 1:17; 23:5; Eccl. 10:20; Isa. 6:2; 8:8; 10:14; 11:12; 18:1; 24:16; Jer. 2:34; 48:40; 49:22; Ezek. 1:6, 8f, 11, 23ff; 3:13; 5:3; 7:2; 10:5, 8, 12, 16, 19, 21; 11:22; 16:8; 17:3, 7, 23; 39:4, 17; Dan. 9:27; Hos. 4:19; Hag. 2:12; Zech. 5:9; 8:23; Mal. 4:2. The NAS translates kanaph as - bird*(1), corner(1), corners(4), covering(1), each other(1), edge(5), edges(1), ends(3), fold (2), garment (1), kind (3), skirt(3), skirts(1), sorts (1), wing(14), winged(5), wings(59), wingspan(1).

In the present context, kanaph refers to the edge of a garment or bed-clothing flap. We find a similar use in Deuteronomy where God directs His people to

make yourself tassels on the four corners of your garment with which you cover yourself (Dt 22:12)

Ruth’s words about Boaz taking her under his wing suggest that in her mind, she was entering into betrothal to marry Boaz. Betrothal was the first stage of marriage in which a couple contracted to marry each other (scroll down to entry #2 "Betrothal the First Formal Part" - in ISBE discussion of Marriage). Betrothal in ancient Israel (at the time of Christ) lasted for a year and was as binding as marriage, being dissolved only by divorce. Should the man to whom a girl was betrothed die, in the eyes of the law she was a widow. During the actual marriage ceremony, the groom’s relatives cover the bride with the groom’s garment, indicating that from then on, she was under his protection ("his wing").

In an earlier encounter Boaz had offered a prayer for Ruth,

May the LORD reward your work, and your wages be full from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings (kanaph = translated covering in Ruth 3:9 - note) you have come to seek refuge.  (see note Ruth 2:12)

The word wings was a symbol of protection, as with baby birds which run under their mother's wings to escape the birds of prey. God used Boaz as the vessel to answer his own prayer in behalf of Ruth. It was customary for a Jewish husband to cover his new wife with the end of his tallit (Heb., prayer shawl) to signify that she was under his protection. Accordingly, Ruth was asking Boaz to accept his responsibility as kinsman and to take her as his wife.  The modern Jewish marriage ceremony takes place under a "Huppah" (a canopy -- sounds like "kanaph") in the presence of two lawful witnesses. To this day in many parts of the East when a man says he put his skirt over a woman it is synonymous with saying that he has married her.

The Old Testament uses kanaph many times, most often figuratively and most often referring to God in a  positive context. For example, Israel's redemption and deliverance from bondage in Egypt is twice described with the beautiful picture of "wings" for God reminds His people

'You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings, and brought you to Myself" (Ex 19:4) and

"Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that hovers over its young, He spread His wings and caught them, He carried them on His pinions. " (Deut 32:11).

God's "wings" are pictured as instrumental in the redemption of His wife Israel from Egyptian bondage. Here in Ruth, the bride is requesting that her redeemer cover her with his "wings"! And ultimately from this covenant comes One from the line of David and the tribe of Judah, Who Himself is the Redeemer of all mankind. Have you sought refuge under the wings of the Redeemer of Israel from the wrath to come? Paul teaches that if you have, you are safe and can

"wait for (God's) Son from heaven, Whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, Who delivers us from the wrath to come." (1Th 1:10-note)

This phrase "Spread your covering" vividly pictures the provision of protection, warmth and fellowship and in context speaks beautifully of marriage. Would it be true that all husbands covered their dearly beloved the way God does and the way Boaz did in this love story. There appears to be no hesitation in the response of Boaz. Ruth could let go of any fear she may have had, for there was no rebuke from this godly man. To the contrary, he gives her a blessing and acceptance as a `my daughter' in the family. No longer was she a stranger or foreigner for Ruth had come under the wings of Jehovah God (Ru 2:12); and now she would be under the wings of her kinsman-redeemer, Boaz!

JFB adds that Ruth

"had already drawn part of the mantle over her; and she asked him now to do it, that the act might become his own. To spread a skirt over one is, in the East, a symbolical action denoting protection. To this day in many parts of the East, to say of anyone that he put his skirt over a woman, is synonymous with saying that he married her; and at all the marriages of the modern Jews and Hindus, one part of the ceremony is for the bridegroom to put a silken or cotton cloak around his bride."

FOR YOU ARE A CLOSE RELATIVE: (Ru 2:12 -note)

"for thou art a near kinsman" (ASV)

"for thou art a near kinsman (BBE)

"you are the relative who is supposed to take care of me" (CEV)

Today's English Version is very direct (albeit a paraphrase)

"Because you are a close relative, you are responsible for taking care of me. So please marry me."

"you are a close relative who can take care of me" (GWT)

Close relative (01350) (goel)  This is the second use of this term in Ruth (Ru 2:20-note) (Here are the 10 uses  in Ruth - Ru 2:20; 3:9, 12, 13; 4:1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 14)

Note she says "You are a kinsman-redeemer," rather than, "You are my kinsman-redeemer". Whether Ruth knew that there was a closer kinsman is uncertain.

It is surprising that Jonathan Edwards in his book "History of Redemption"  which traces the history of redemption from Moses to David, absolutely ignored Boaz as a type of Christ (see Typology), the great Redeemer  many of the judges fit that type writing that

The deliverers that God raised up from time to time were all types of Christ, the great Redeemer of His Church; and some of them very remarkably so; as particularly, Barak, Jephthah, Gideon, Samson, in many particulars. (McGee, J. V. Ruth and Esther : Women of Faith. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers)

J. Vernon McGee further notes that

Having included Samson, (Jonathan Edwards) passed over the Book of Ruth entirely, paid no attention to Boaz, and discussed Samuel as the next in order as a type of the Redeemer. A. H. Strong, in his Systematic Theology, defined the section of theology under “Christology” as “the redemption wrought by Christ,” and he did not even allude to Boaz as a type of Christ. There is no reference to the Book of Ruth in his entire work on theology. Calvin, in the Institutes, made no reference to the Book of Ruth when contemplating redemption. In any biblical history of redemption that seeks to trace the types through the Scripture, there ought to be a reference to Boaz in the Book of Ruth. (Ibid)