Discovery BoxRuth 1:4-5 
Context1:4 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. 1:5 Then Naomi’s two sons, Mahlon and Kilion, also died. 4 So the woman was left all alone – bereaved of her two children 5 as well as her husband!
Ruth 1:15
Context1:15 So Naomi 6 said, “Look, your sister-in-law is returning to her people and to her god. 7 Follow your sister-in-law back home!”
Ruth 2:16-17
Context2:16 Make sure you pull out 8 ears of grain for her and drop them so she can gather them up. Don’t tell her not to!” 9 2:17 So she gathered grain in the field until evening. When she threshed 10 what she had gathered, it came to about thirty pounds 11 of barley!
Ruth 3:1
Context3:1 At that time, 12 Naomi, her mother-in-law, said to her, “My daughter, I must find a home for you so you will be secure. 13
Ruth 3:6
Context3:6 So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law had instructed her to do. 14
Ruth 3:14
Context3:14 So she slept beside him 15 until morning. She woke up while it was still dark. 16 Boaz thought, 17 “No one must know that a woman visited the threshing floor.” 18
Ruth 4:13
Context4:13 So Boaz married Ruth and had sexual relations with her. 19 The Lord enabled her to conceive 20 and she gave birth to a son.
1 tn Heb “they.” The verb is 3rd person masculine plural referring to Naomi’s sons, as the translation indicates.
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).
3 tn Heb “the name of the one [was] Orpah and the name of the second [was] Ruth.”
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.
4 tn Heb “and the two of them also died, Mahlon and Kilion.”
5 tn The term יֶלֶד (yeled, “offspring”), from the verb יָלַד (yalad, “to give birth to”), is used only here of a married man. By shifting to this word from the more common term בֵּן (ben, “son”; see vv. 1-5a) and then using it in an unusual manner, the author draws attention to Naomi’s loss and sets up a verbal link with the story’s conclusion (cf. 4:16). Although grown men, they were still her “babies” (see E. F. Campbell, Ruth [AB], 56; F. W. Bush, Ruth, Esther [WBC], 66).
6 tn Heb “she”; the referent (Naomi) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
7 tn Or “gods” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, CEV, NLT), if the plural form is taken as a numerical plural. However, it is likely that Naomi, speaking from Orpah’s Moabite perspective, uses the plural of majesty of the Moabite god Chemosh. For examples of the plural of majesty being used of a pagan god, see BDB 43 s.v. אֱלֹהִים 1.d. Note especially 1 Kgs 11:33, where the plural form is used of Chemosh.
8 tn The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb for emphasis. Here שָׁלַל (shalal, “pull out”) is a homonym of the more common Hebrew verb meaning “to plunder.” An Arabic cognate is used of drawing a sword out of a scabbard (see BDB 1021 s.v.).
9 tn Heb “do not rebuke her” (so NASB, NRSV); CEV “don’t speak harshly to her”; NLT “don’t give her a hard time.”
10 tn Heb “she beat out” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV, NLT). Ruth probably used a stick to separate the kernels of grain from the husks. See O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 63.
11 tn Heb “there was an ephah.” An ephah was a dry measure, equivalent to one-tenth of a homer (see HALOT 43 s.v. אֵיפָה). An ephah was equivalent to a “bath,” a liquid measure. Jars labeled “bath” found at archaeological sites in Israel could contain approximately 5.8 gallons, or one-half to two-thirds of a bushel. Thus an ephah of barley would have weighed about 29 to 30 pounds (just over 13 kg). See R. L. Hubbard, Jr., Ruth (NICOT), 179.
sn This was a huge amount of barley for one woman to gather in a single day. It testifies both to Ruth’s industry and to Boaz’s generosity.
12 tn The phrase “sometime later” does not appear in Hebrew but is supplied to mark the implicit shift in time from the events in chapter 2.
13 tn Heb “My daughter, should I not seek for you a resting place so that it may go well for you [or which will be good for you]?” The idiomatic, negated rhetorical question is equivalent to an affirmation (see 2:8-9) and has thus been translated in the affirmative (so also NAB, NCV, NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT).
14 tn Heb “and she did according to all which her mother-in-law commanded her” (NASB similar). Verse 6 is a summary statement, while the following verses (vv. 7-15) give the particulars.
15 tc The consonantal text (Kethib) has the singular מַרְגְּלָתַו (margÿlatav, “his leg”), while the marginal reading (Qere) has the plural מַרְגְּלוֹתָיו (margÿlotayv, “his legs”).
tn Heb “[at] his legs.” See the note on the word “legs” in v. 4.
16 tn Heb “and she arose before a man could recognize his companion”; NRSV “before one person could recognize another”; CEV “before daylight.”
17 tn Heb “and he said” (so KJV, NASB, NIV). Some translate “he thought [to himself]” (cf. NCV).
18 tn Heb “let it not be known that the woman came [to] the threshing floor” (NASB similar). The article on הָאִשָּׁה (ha’ishah, “the woman”) is probably dittographic (note the final he on the preceding verb בָאָה [va’ah, “she came”]).
19 tn Heb “and Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife and he went in to her.” Here the phrase “went in to her” (so NASB) is a euphemism for having sexual relations (cf. NCV); NLT “When he slept with her.”
20 tn Heb “gave her conception” (so KJV); NRSV “made her conceive”; NLT “enabled her to become pregnant.”
