¹ tn Heb “she is to…remove the clothing of her captivity” (cf. NASB); NRSV “discard her captive’s garb.”

¹ tn Heb “she lifted up her eyes toward,” an expression that emphasizes her deliberate and careful scrutiny of him.

¹ tn Heb “in the going out of her life, for she was dying.” Rachel named the child with her dying breath.

¹ tn Heb “[As for] Sarai your wife, you must not call her name Sarai, for Sarah [will be] her name.”

⁶ tn Heb “and she fled from her presence.” The referent of “her” (Sarai) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³ tn Heb “do not humiliate her”; cf. KJV “reproach her not”; NASB “do not insult her”; NIV “don’t reprimand her.” This probably refers to a verbal rebuke which would single her out and embarrass her (see v. 16). See R. L. Hubbard, Jr., Ruth (NICOT), 176-77, and F. W. Bush, Ruth, Esther (WBC), 126.

² tn Heb “and seed there is not to her and she returns to the house of her father as her youth.” The mention of having “no children” appears to imply that her children, if she had any, should support her; this is made explicit by NLT’s “and has no children to support her.”

¹ tn Heb “Solomon declared to her all her words; there was not a word hidden from the king which he did not declare to her.” If riddles are specifically in view (see v. 1), then one might translate, “Solomon explained to her all her riddles; there was no riddle too complex for the king.”

¹ tn Heb “Solomon declared to her all her words; there was not a word hidden from the king which he did not declare to her.” If riddles are specifically in view (see v. 1), then one might translate, “Solomon explained to her all her riddles; there was no riddle too complex for the king.”

¹ tn Heb “and kill her with thirst.” The vav prefixed to the verb (וַהֲמִתִּיהָ, vahamittiha) introduces a purpose/result clause: “in order to make her die of thirst” (purpose), or “and thus make her die of thirst” (result).

² tn Or “all her slain will fall in her midst.” In other words, her people will be overtaken by judgment and be unable to escape. The dead will lie in heaps in the very heart of the city and land.

¹ sn The parallel expressions here underscore her care for the needy. The first part uses “she spread her palm” and the second “she extended her hands,” repeating some of the vocabulary introduced in the last verse.

² tn Heb “her palate.” The word חֵךְ (khekh, “palate; roof of the mouth; gums”) is a metonymy of cause (= organ of speech) for what is said (= her seductive speech). The present translation clarifies this metonymy with the phrase “her seductive words.”

² sn According to this understanding, she and Elkanah have already discussed the issue. Her concern to not give the baby up while Samuel is nursing is most sensible; at the same time she affirms her long term commitment to her vow.

² tc Several medieval Hebrew mss and the Syriac Peshitta lack the words “and got something to eat.” The LXX reads: “went her way. She entered her guest room. She ate with her husband, and drank.”

² tn The verb יָעַד (yaʿad) does not mean “betroth, espouse” as some of the earlier translations had it, but “to designate.” When he bought the girl, he designated her for himself, giving her and her family certain expectations.

² sn Leah seems to regard the act of giving her servant Zilpah to her husband as a sacrifice, for which (she believes) God is now rewarding her with the birth of a son.

³ tn Grk “from the burning of her.” For the translation “the smoke from the fire that burns her up,” see L&N 14.63.

³ tn The final clause could also be turned into an adverbial clause of means: “They will consume her flesh by burning her with fire.”

¹ tn Grk “Giving her his hand, he raised her up.” The participle δούς (dous) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.