Ruth 1:4

1:4 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.

Ruth 2:6

2:6 The servant in charge of the harvesters replied, “She’s the young Moabite woman who came back with Naomi from the region of Moab.

Ruth 2:16

2:16 Make sure you pull out ⁴  ears of grain for her and drop them so she can gather them up. Don’t tell her not to!” ⁵ 

Ruth 3:16

3:16 and she returned to her mother-in-law.

Ruth Returns to Naomi

When Ruth returned to her mother-in-law, Naomi ⁶  asked, ⁷  “How did things turn out for you, ⁸  my daughter?” Ruth ⁹  told her about all the man had done for her. ¹⁰ 

Ruth 4:17

4:17 The neighbor women named him, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi.” They named him Obed. ¹¹  Now he became the father of Jesse – David’s father!

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.”

⁴ 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.).

⁵ tn Heb “do not rebuke her” (so NASB, NRSV); CEV “don’t speak harshly to her”; NLT “don’t give her a hard time.”

⁷ tn Heb “she”; the referent (Naomi) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁸ tn Heb “said.” Since what follows is a question, the present translation uses “asked” here.

⁹ tn Heb “Who are you?” In this context Naomi is clearly not asking for Ruth’s identity. Here the question has the semantic force “Are you his wife?” See R. L. Hubbard, Jr., Ruth (NICOT), 223-24, and F. W. Bush, Ruth, Esther (WBC), 184-85.

¹⁰ tn Heb “she”; the referent (Ruth) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹¹ sn All that the man had done. This would have included his promise to marry her and his gift of barley.

¹⁰ tn The name “Obed” means “one who serves,” perhaps anticipating how he would help Naomi (see v. 15).