Discovery BoxRuth 1:5 
Context1:5 Then Naomi’s two sons, Mahlon and Kilion, also died. 1 So the woman was left all alone – bereaved of her two children 2 as well as her husband!
Ruth 2:21
Context2:21 Ruth the Moabite replied, “He even 3 told me, ‘You may go along beside my servants 4 until they have finished gathering all my harvest!’” 5
1 tn Heb “and the two of them also died, Mahlon and Kilion.”
2 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).
3 tn On the force of the phrase גָּם כִּי (gam ki) here, see F. W. Bush, Ruth, Esther (WBC), 138-39.
4 tn Heb “with the servants who are mine you may stay close.” The imperfect has a permissive nuance here. The word “servants” is masculine plural.
5 tn Heb “until they have finished all the harvest which is mine”; NIV “until they finish harvesting all my grain.”
