Discovery BoxRuth 1:2 
Context1:2 (Now the man’s name was Elimelech, 1 his wife was Naomi, 2 and his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. 3 They were of the clan of Ephrath 4 from Bethlehem in Judah.) They entered the region of Moab and settled there. 5
Ruth 1:11-12
Context1:11 But Naomi replied, “Go back home, my daughters! There is no reason for you to return to Judah with me! 6 I am no longer capable of giving birth to sons who might become your husbands! 7 1:12 Go back home, my daughters! For I am too old to get married again. 8 Even if I thought that there was hope that I could get married tonight and conceive sons, 9
Ruth 4:15
Context4:15 He will encourage you and provide for you when you are old, 10 for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, has given him birth. She 11 is better to you than seven sons!”
1 sn The name “Elimelech” literally means “My God [is] king.” The narrator’s explicit identification of his name seems to cast him in a positive light.
2 tn Heb “and the name of his wife [was] Naomi.” This has been simplified in the translation for stylistic reasons.
sn The name Naomi (נָעֳמִי, na’omi) is from the adjective נֹעַם (noam, “pleasant, lovely”) and literally means “my pleasant one” or “my lovely one.” Her name will become the subject of a wordplay in 1:20-21 when she laments that she is no longer “pleasant” but “bitter” because of the loss of her husband and two sons.
3 tn Heb “and the name[s] of his two sons [were] Mahlon and Kilion.”
sn The name Mahlon (מַחְלוֹן, makhlon) is from מָלָה (malah, “to be weak, sick”) and Kilion (כִליוֹן, khilyon) is from כָלָה (khalah, “to be frail”). The rate of infant mortality was so high during the Iron Age that parents typically did not name children until they survived infancy and were weaned. Naomi and Elimelech might have named their two sons Mahlon and Kilion to reflect their weak condition in infancy due to famine – which eventually prompted the move to Moab where food was abundant.
4 tn Heb “[They were] Ephrathites.” Ephrathah is a small village (Ps 132:6) in the vicinity of Bethlehem (Gen 35:16), so close in proximity that it is often identified with the larger town of Bethlehem (Gen 35:19; 48:7; Ruth 4:11; Mic 5:2 [MT 5:1]; HALOT 81 s.v. אֶפְרָתָה); see F. W. Bush, Ruth, Esther (WBC), 64. The designation “Ephrathites” might indicate that they were residents of Ephrathah. However, the adjectival form אֶפְרָתִים (ephratim, “Ephrathites”) used here elsewhere refers to someone from the clan of Ephrath (cf. 1 Chr 4:4) which lived in the region of Bethlehem: “Now David was the son of an Ephrathite from Bethlehem in Judah whose name was Jesse” (1 Sam 17:12; cf. Mic 5:2 [MT 5:1]). So it is more likely that the virtually identical expression here – “Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah” – refers to the clan of Ephrath in Bethlehem (see R. L. Hubbard, Jr., Ruth [NICOT], 91).
5 tn Heb “and were there”; KJV “continued there”; NRSV “remained there”; TEV “were living there.”
6 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.
7 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.
8 sn Too old to get married again. Naomi may be exaggerating for the sake of emphasis. Her point is clear, though: It is too late to roll back the clock.
9 tn Verse 12b contains the protasis (“if” clause) of a conditional sentence, which is completed by the rhetorical questions in v. 13. For a detailed syntactical analysis, see F. W. Bush, Ruth, Esther (WBC), 78-79.
10 tn Heb “and he will become for you a restorer of life and a sustainer of your old age” (NASB similar).
11 tn Heb “who, she”; KJV “which is better to thee.”
