¹ sn I will also give your camels water. It would be an enormous test for a young woman to water ten camels. The idea is that such a woman would not only be industrious but hospitable and generous.

⁴ tn L&N 31.103 translates this phrase “the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer.”

² sn This is a parenthetical note by the author, indicating why Jesus asked the woman for a drink.

⁵ sn The woman was most likely suffering from a vaginal hemorrhage, in which case her bleeding would make her ritually unclean.

³ tn Heb “a woman who is loved by a companion” (אִשָּׁה אֲהֻבַת רֵעַ, ʾishah ʾahuvat reaʿ). The substantival participle אֲהֻבַת (“one who is loved”) is in apposition to אִשָּׁה (“a woman”). The genitive noun רֵעַ (“companion”) functions as the agent of the preceding construct noun: “who is loved by a companion” (אֲהֻבַת רֵעַ). Cf. NAB “a woman beloved of a paramour,” and NRSV “a woman who has a lover.”

² tn The verb is the same one used in verse 10b and suggests forcible sexual violation of the woman.

² tn Heb “The heart of the soldiers of Moab will be like the heart of a woman in labor.”

³ tn The first word in the Hebrew text (אֵשֶׁת, ʾeshet) begins with א (ʾalef), the first letter in the Hebrew alphabet. The word אֵשֶׁת, (ʾeshet) can refer to a wife or to a woman. Ruth is called an אֵשֶׁת חַיִל (ʾeshet khayil) “worthy woman” while still a widow. While the term need not refer to a wife, that was certainly the most common status of the adult woman in ancient Israel and the following description portrays a woman who is both wife and mother.

¹ tn Heb “a woman of foolishness.” This could be translated as “foolish woman,” taking the genitive as attributive (cf. KJV, ASV, NRSV). But in view of the contrast with the personification of wisdom, this word probably also represents a personification and so can be taken as a genitive of apposition, the woman who is folly, or “the woman, Folly” (cf. NIV). For clarity and stylistic reasons the word “called” has been supplied in the translation.

² tn Heb “strange woman.” This can be interpreted as a “wayward wife” (so NIV) or an “unfaithful wife” (so NCV). As discussed earlier, the designations “strange woman” and “foreign woman” could refer to Israelites who stood outside the community in their lawlessness and loose morals—an adulteress or wayward woman. H. Ringgren and W. Zimmerli, however, suggest that she is also a promoter of a pagan cult, but that is not entirely convincing (Spruche/Prediger [ATD], 19).

¹ tn Heb “a son of a woman from the daughters of Dan, and his father a man of Tyre.”

² tn Heb “Attend to this accursed woman and bury her for she was the daughter of a king.”

¹ tn Heb “and the woman got up and did according to the word of the man of God.”

¹ tn When Boaz speaks, he uses the feminine form of the pronoun, indicating that he knows she is a woman.

¹ tn Heb “the woman.” For clarity this has been specified in the translation as “Manoah’s wife.”

¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man who attacked the woman) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹ tn The word “other” is implied, since the woman would not be guilty of having sexual relations with her own husband.

⁴ tn The pronoun “he” in this clause refers to the priest, not the former husband of the divorced woman.

² tn Heb “[as the] lyings of a woman.” The specific reference here is to homosexual intercourse between males.

¹ tn Heb “You must not uncover the nakedness of both a woman and her daughter; the daughter of her son and the daughter of her daughter you must not take to uncover her nakedness.” Translating “her” as “them” provides consistency in the English. In this kind of context, “take” means to “take in marriage” (cf. also v. 18). The LXX and Syriac have “their nakedness,” referring to the nakedness of the woman’s granddaughters, rather than the nakedness of the woman herself.