Rut 1:4

1:4 So her sons ¹  married ²  Moabite women. (One was named Orpah and the other Ruth.) ³  And they continued to live there about ten years.

Rut 1:11

1:11 But Naomi replied, “Go back home, my daughters! There is no reason for you to return to Judah with me! ⁴  I am no longer capable of giving birth to sons who might become your husbands! ⁵ 

Rut 2:18

Ruth Returns to Naomi

2:18 She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw ⁶  how much grain ⁷  she had gathered. Then Ruth ⁸  gave her the roasted grain she had saved from mealtime. ⁹ 

Rut 4:12

4:12 May your family ¹⁰  become like the family of Perez ¹¹  – whom Tamar bore to Judah – through the descendants ¹²  the Lord gives you by this young woman.”

Rut 4:14

4:14 The village women said to Naomi, “May the Lord be praised because he has not left you without a guardian ¹³  today! May he ¹⁴  become famous in Israel! ¹⁵ 

[1:4]  ¹ tn Heb “they.” The verb is 3rd person masculine plural referring to Naomi’s sons, as the translation indicates.

[1:4]  ² tn Heb “and they lifted up for themselves Moabite wives.” When used with the noun “wife,” the verb נָשָׂא (nasa’, “to lift up, carry, take”) forms the idiom “to take a wife,” that is, to marry (BDB 673 s.v. Qal.3.d; 2 Chr 11:21; 13:21; 24:3; Ezra 9:2,12; 10:44; Neh 13:25).

[1:4]  ³ tn Heb “the name of the one [was] Orpah and the name of the second [was] Ruth.”

[1:4]  sn The name Orpah (עָרְפָּה, ’orpah) is from the noun עֹרֶף (’oref, “back of the neck”) and the related verb (“to turn one’s back”). The name Ruth (רוּת, rut) is from the noun רְעוּת (rÿ’ut, “friendship”), derived from the root רֵעַ (rea’, “friend, companion”). Ironically, Orpah will eventually turn her back on Naomi, while Ruth will display extraordinary friendship as her life-long companion (see 1:14). Since they seem to mirror the most definitive action of these women, perhaps they designate character types (as is the case with the name Mara in 1:21 and Peloni Almoni in 4:2) rather than their original birth names.

[1:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “Why would you want to come with me?” Naomi’s rhetorical question expects a negative answer. The phrase “to Judah” is added in the translation for clarification.

[1:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “Do I still have sons in my inner parts that they might become your husbands?” Again Naomi’s rhetorical question expects a negative answer.

[2:18]  ⁶ tc MT vocalizes ותרא as the Qal verb וַתֵּרֶא (vattere’, “and she saw”), consequently of “her mother-in-law” as subject and “what she gathered” as the direct object: “her mother-in-law saw what she gathered.” A few medieval Hebrew mss (also reflected in Syriac and Vulgate) have the Hiphil וַתַּרְא (vattar’, “and she showed”), consequently taking “her mother-in-law” as the direct object and “what she gathered” as the double direct-object: “she showed her mother-in-law what she had gathered” (cf. NAB, TEV, CEV, NLT). Although the latter has the advantage of making Ruth the subject of all the verbs in this verse, it would be syntactically difficult. For one would expect the accusative sign אֶת (’et) before “her mother-in-law” if it were the direct object of a Hiphil verb in a sentence with a double direct object introduced by the accusative sign אֶת, e.g., “to show (Hiphil of רָאָה, ra’ah) your servant (direct object marked by accusative sign אֶת) your greatness (double direct object marked by accusative sign אֶת) (Deut 3:24). Therefore the MT reading is preferred.

[2:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “that which”; the referent (how much grain) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:18]  ⁸ tn Heb “she”; the referent (Ruth) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “and she brought out and gave to her that which she had left over from her being satisfied.”

[4:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “your house” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[4:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, from the offspring whom the Lord gives to you from this young woman.”

[4:12]  sn Perez is an appropriate comparison here, because (1) he was an ancestor of Boaz, (2) he was born to Tamar by a surrogate father (Judah) after the death of her husband, and (3) he had an unbroken line of male descendants extending over several generations (see vv. 18-22).

[4:12]  ¹² tn Heb “from the seed” (KJV, ASV both similar); NASB, NIV “through the offspring”; NRSV “through the children.”

[4:14]  ¹³ tn Or “redeemer.” See the note on the phrase “guardian of the family interests” in 3:9. As the following context indicates, the child is referred to here.

[4:14]  ¹⁴ tn The “guardian” is the subject of the verb, as the next verse makes clear.

[4:14]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “may his name be called [i.e., “perpetuated”; see Gen 48:16] in Israel.”