Boaz woke in the dark and simply needed to know who was there. Keil & Delitzsch say he was startled because on waking he noticed someone lying at his feet. Gill says a panic seized him, not knowing what it might be, and Barnes pictures him reaching out: he "bent forward, so as to feel what it was." His question is a plain request for identity in the dark. Naomi had told Ruth that Boaz "will tell thee what thou shalt do" (Ruth 3:4), but his question instead lets Ruth speak first.

Ruth answers at once: "I am Ruth thine handmaid," and asks, "spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid; for thou art a near kinsman" (Ruth 3:9). Boaz blesses her, calls her "a virtuous woman," and promises, "I will do to thee all that thou requirest" (Ruth 3:10-11). He tells her honestly that there is "a kinsman nearer than I" and swears "as the LORD liveth" to act if that man will not (Ruth 3:12-13).

Ruth's request used a word picture for marriage. "Skirt" translates kanaph, an edge or extremity: the wing of a bird or the flap of a garment. Keil & Delitzsch say it refers to the corner of the covering a man spreads over his wife, and both they and Gill point to Ezekiel 16:8. Gill and Barnes read Ruth's request as asking Boaz to take her in marriage. "Near kinsman" is goel, the next of kin who, in the words of Strong's Concordance (a standard Bible word dictionary), could "buy back a relative's property, marry his widow, etc."

Ruth's words echo Boaz's own prayer for her. In Ruth 2:12 Boaz prayed that the LORD would reward Ruth, "under whose wings thou art come to trust." The word for wings there is the same kanaph that Ruth uses here for "skirt." Keil & Delitzsch say Ruth's phrase is not taken from birds spreading their wings over their young but from the corner of the covering a man spreads over his wife, so her words are a request for marriage. Still, the same Hebrew word ties the two scenes together: Boaz had prayed for Ruth's refuge with the LORD, and now Ruth asks Boaz, as her kinsman, to take her under his own care.

Boaz's question also opens a window on his character. Matthew Henry says Boaz "attempted not to take advantage of Ruth" and did not suspect her of ill intentions. He met a private, nighttime moment with blessing, honesty about the nearer kinsman, and an oath before the LORD (Ruth 3:10-13). He even guarded her good name: "Let it not be known that a woman came into the floor" (Ruth 3:14).