Discovery BoxRuth 1:7 
Context1:7 Now as she and her two daughters-in-law began to leave the place where she had been living to return to the land of Judah, 1
Ruth 2:1
Context2:1 Now Naomi 2 had a relative 3 on her husband’s side of the family named Boaz. He was a wealthy, prominent man from the clan of Elimelech. 4
Ruth 2:4
Context2:4 Now at that very moment, 5 Boaz arrived from Bethlehem 6 and greeted 7 the harvesters, “May the Lord be with you!” They replied, 8 “May the Lord bless you!”
Ruth 3:2
Context3:2 Now Boaz, with whose female servants you worked, is our close relative. 9 Look, tonight he is winnowing barley at the threshing floor. 10
Ruth 3:11-12
Context3:11 Now, my dear, don’t worry! 11 I intend to do for you everything you propose, 12 for everyone in the village 13 knows that you are a worthy woman. 14 3:12 Now yes, it is true that 15 I am a guardian, 16 but there is another guardian who is a closer relative than I am.
Ruth 4:17
Context4:17 The neighbor women named him, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi.” They named him Obed. 17 Now he became the father of Jesse – David’s father!
1 tn Heb “and she went out from the place she had been, and her two daughters-in-law with her, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah.”
2 tn The disjunctive clause (note the vav [ו] + prepositional phrase structure) provides background information essential to the following narrative.
3 tc The marginal reading (Qere) is מוֹדַע (moda’, “relative”), while the consonantal text (Kethib) has מְיֻדָּע (miyudda’, “friend”). The textual variant was probably caused by orthographic confusion between consonantal מְיֻדָּע and מוֹדַע. Virtually all English versions follow the marginal reading (Qere), e.g., KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV “kinsman”; NIV, NCV, NLT “relative.”
4 tn Heb “and [there was] to Naomi a relative, to her husband, a man mighty in substance, from the clan of Elimelech, and his name [was] Boaz.”
5 tn Heb “and look”; NIV, NRSV “Just then.” The narrator invites the audience into the story, describing Boaz’s arrival as if it were witnessed by the audience.
6 map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.
7 tn Heb “said to.” Context indicates that the following expression is a greeting, the first thing Boaz says to his workers.
8 tn Heb “said to him.” For stylistic reasons “replied” is used in the present translation.
9 tn Heb “Is not Boaz our close relative, with whose female servants you were?” The idiomatic, negated rhetorical question is equivalent to an affirmation (see Ruth 2:8-9; 3:1) and has thus been translated in the affirmative (so also NCV, NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT).
10 tn Heb “look, he is winnowing the barley threshing floor tonight.”
sn Winnowing the threshed grain involved separating the kernels of grain from the straw and chaff. The grain would be thrown into the air, allowing the wind to separate the kernels (see O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 65-66). The threshing floor itself was usually located outside town in a place where the prevailing west wind could be used to advantage (Borowski, 62-63).
11 tn Heb “do not fear” (so NASB); NRSV “do not be afraid.”
12 tn Heb “everything which you are saying I will do for you.” The Hebrew word order emphasizes Boaz’s intention to fulfill Ruth’s request. As in v. 5, the Hebrew imperfect is used (note “you are saying”), even though Ruth’s request appears to be concluded. According to GKC 316 §107.h, the imperfect can sometimes “express actions, etc., which although, strictly speaking, they are already finished, are regarded as still lasting on into the present time, or continuing to operate in it.” The imperfect אֶעֱשֶׂה (’e’eseh) could be translated “I will do” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT), but since there are legal complications which must first be resolved, it is better to take the form as indicating Boaz’s desire or intention, if the legal matters can be worked out.
13 tn Heb “all the gate of the town,” which by metonymy could refer to everyone in town (NIV “All my fellow townsmen”; NLT “everyone in town”), or only to the leaders and prominent citizens of the community (Boaz’s peers) who transacted business and made legal decisions at the town gate (NRSV “all the assembly of my people”).
14 tn Or “woman of strong character” (cf. NIV “woman of noble character”). The same phrase is used in Prov 31:10 to describe the ideal wife. Prov 31 emphasizes the ideal wife’s industry, her devotion to her family, and her concern for others, characteristics which Ruth had demonstrated.
15 tc The sequence כִּי אָמְנָם כִּי אִם (ki ’omnam ki ’im; Kethib) occurs only here in the OT, as does the sequence כִּי אָמְנָם כִּי (Qere). It is likely that כִּי אִם is dittographic (note the preceding sequence כִּי אָמְנָם). The translation assumes that the original text was simply the otherwise unattested וְעַתָּה כִּי אָמְנָם, with אָמְנָם and כִּי both having an asseverative (or emphatic) function.
16 tn Sometimes translated “redeemer” (also later in this verse). See the note on the phrase “guardian of the family interests” in v. 9.
17 tn The name “Obed” means “one who serves,” perhaps anticipating how he would help Naomi (see v. 15).
