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.
After the reapers among the sheaves. Various modes of reaping are practiced in the East. Where the crop is thin and short, it is plucked up by the roots. In other states it is cut with the sickle. Whether reaped in the one way or the other, the grain is cast into sheaves loosely thrown together, to be subjected to the process of threshing, which takes place for the most part immediately after the reaping. Field labours were begun early in the morning, before the day became oppressively hot.
She tarried a little in the house - i:e., the field tent, erected for the occasional rest and refreshment of the labourers.