1 Samuel 25:18

25:18 So Abigail quickly took two hundred loaves of bread, two containers ¹  of wine, five prepared sheep, five seahs ²  of roasted grain, a hundred bunches of raisins, and two hundred lumps of pressed figs. She loaded them on donkeys

Ruth 2:14

2:14 Later during the mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come here and have ³  some food! Dip your bread ⁴  in the vinegar!” So she sat down beside the harvesters. Then he handed ⁵  her some roasted grain. She ate until she was full and saved the rest. ⁶ 

Ruth 2:2

2:2 One day Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go ⁷  to the fields so I can gather ⁸  grain behind whoever permits me to do so.” ⁹  Naomi ¹⁰  replied, “You may go, my daughter.”

Ruth 1:1

A Family Tragedy: Famine and Death

1:1 During the time of the judges ¹¹  there was a famine in the land of Judah. ¹²  So a man from Bethlehem ¹³  in Judah went to live as a resident foreigner ¹⁴  in the region of Moab, along with his wife and two sons. ¹⁵ 

[25:18]  ¹ tn Heb “skins.”

[25:18]  ² sn The seah was a dry measure equal to one-third of an ephah, or not quite eleven quarts.

[2:14]  ³ tn Heb “eat” (so KJV, NRSV).

[2:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “your portion”; NRSV “your morsel.”

[2:14]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew verb צָבַט (tsavat) occurs only here in the OT. Cf. KJV, ASV “he reached her”; NASB “he served her”; NIV “he offered her”; NRSV “he heaped up for her.” For discussion of its meaning, including the etymological evidence, see BDB 840 s.v.; R. L. Hubbard, Jr., Ruth (NICOT), 174; and F. W. Bush, Ruth, Esther (WBC), 125-26.

[2:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “and she ate and she was satisfied and she had some left over” (NASB similar).

[2:2]  ⁷ tn The cohortative here (“Let me go”) expresses Ruth’s request. Note Naomi’s response, in which she gives Ruth permission to go to the field.

[2:2]  ⁸ tn Following the preceding cohortative, the cohortative with vav conjunctive indicates purpose/result.

[2:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “anyone in whose eyes I may find favor” (ASV, NIV similar). The expression אֶמְצָא־חֵן בְּעֵינָיו (’emtsa’-khen bÿ’enayv, “to find favor in the eyes of [someone]”) appears in Ruth 2:2, 10, 13. It is most often used when a subordinate or servant requests permission for something from a superior (BDB 336 s.v. חֵן). Ruth will play the role of the subordinate servant, seeking permission from a landowner, who then could show benevolence by granting her request to glean in his field behind the harvest workers.

[2:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “she”; the referent (Naomi) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “in the days of the judging of the judges.” The LXX simply reads “when the judges judged,” and Syriac has “in the days of the judges.” Cf. NASB “in the days when the judges governed (ruled NRSV).”

[1:1]  ¹² tn Heb “in the land.” The phrase “of Judah” is supplied in the translation to clarify the referent.

[1:1]  ¹³ sn The name Bethlehem (בֵּית לֶחֶם, bet lekhem) is from “house, place” (בֵּית) and “bread, food” (לֶחֶם), so the name literally means “House of Bread” or “Place of Food.” Perhaps there is irony here: One would not expect a severe famine in such a location. This would not necessarily indicate that Bethlehem was under divine discipline, but merely that the famine was very severe, explaining the reason for the family’s departure.

[1:1]  ¹⁴ tn Or “to live temporarily.” The verb גּוּר (gur, “sojourn”) may refer to (1) temporary dwelling in a location (Deut 18:6; Judg 17:7) or (2) permanent dwelling in a location (Judg 5:17; Ps 33:8). When used of a foreign land, it can refer to (1) temporary dwelling as a visiting foreigner (Gen 12:10; 20:1; 21:34; 2 Kgs 8:1-2; Jer 44:14) or (2) permanent dwelling as a resident foreigner (Gen 47:4; Exod 6:4; Num 15:14; Deut 26:5; 2 Sam 4:3; Jer 49:18,33; 50:40; Ezek 47:22-23). Although Naomi eventually returned to Judah, there is some ambiguity whether or not Elimelech intended the move to make them permanent resident foreigners. Cf. NASB “to sojourn” and NIV “to live for a while,” both of which imply the move was temporary, while “to live” (NCV, NRSV, NLT) is more neutral about the permanence of the relocation.

[1:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “he and his wife and his two sons.” The LXX omits “two.”