“Uncover his feet”
Then go in and uncover his feet, and lie down, and he will explain to you what you should do. (Ruth 3:4 BSB)
What it sounds like today
Either a plainly literal instruction about his feet, or a coy hint at something sexual.
The cultural key
This is the book's most debated line, and honesty requires naming the range. 'Feet' (raglayim) is sometimes a Hebrew euphemism for the genitals (as in Isaiah 7:20), which has led some scholars to hear a sexual overture. But the plain sense, uncovering the feet so the night chill wakes him, fits the scene: Ruth lies at his feet, not beside him, and when Boaz wakes he praises her virtue rather than treating anything as consummated. The narrator writes with deliberate double meaning, building risk and suspense without ever stating that a line was crossed. Confident certainty in either direction overreads the text.
Recovered meaning
The gesture is a coded, daring signal: Ruth places herself at Boaz's feet as a claimant, inviting him to act as redeemer. The scene is charged precisely because its meaning is left hanging, exactly as the author intended.