Rut 1:11

1:11 But Naomi replied, “Go back home, my daughters! There is no reason for you to return to Judah with me! ¹  I am no longer capable of giving birth to sons who might become your husbands! ² 

Rut 2:4

Boaz and Ruth Meet

2:4 Now at that very moment, ³  Boaz arrived from Bethlehem ⁴  and greeted ⁵  the harvesters, “May the Lord be with you!” They replied, ⁶  “May the Lord bless you!”

Rut 2:21

2:21 Ruth the Moabite replied, “He even ⁷  told me, ‘You may go along beside my servants ⁸  until they have finished gathering all my harvest!’” ⁹ 

[1:11]  ¹ tn Heb “Why would you want to come with me?” Naomi’s rhetorical question expects a negative answer. The phrase “to Judah” is added in the translation for clarification.

[1:11]  ² tn Heb “Do I still have sons in my inner parts that they might become your husbands?” Again Naomi’s rhetorical question expects a negative answer.

[2:4]  ³ 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.

[2:4]  ⁴ map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.

[2:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “said to.” Context indicates that the following expression is a greeting, the first thing Boaz says to his workers.

[2:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “said to him.” For stylistic reasons “replied” is used in the present translation.

[2:21]  ⁷ tn On the force of the phrase גָּם כִּי (gam ki) here, see F. W. Bush, Ruth, Esther (WBC), 138-39.

[2:21]  ⁸ tn Heb “with the servants who are mine you may stay close.” The imperfect has a permissive nuance here. The word “servants” is masculine plural.

[2:21]  ⁹ tn Heb “until they have finished all the harvest which is mine”; NIV “until they finish harvesting all my grain.”