SIL Translator’s Notes on Ruth 4:17

4:17a

The neighbor women: The Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as The neighbor women is a word that literally means “female inhabitants.” It refers to the women who lived in Bethlehem.

said: The Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as said is literally “called him a name, saying….” The words “they called him a name” is a Hebrew idiom that means “they named him” or “they gave him a name.” The Hebrew text of 4:17c repeats the phrase “they called him a name.” For example:

And the women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying… (Revised Standard Version)

If repeating the phrase in 4:17a and 4:17c would be unnatural in your language, you may follow the Berean Standard Bible and omit it in 4:17a.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

The neighbor women named him, saying, (NET Bible)
-or-
and the women neighbors gave him a name, saying, (Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures)
-or-
The women living there said, (New International Reader’s Version)

4:17b

A son has been born to Naomi: The women meant that Naomi would help Ruth take care of the baby. Also, they thought about this child becoming a replacement for Naomi’s own sons. He would be the heir of the family property.

In Hebrew, as in many other languages, the word for “son” can also refer to a grandson. In other languages, it would be confusing, or impossible, to call Ruth’s baby Naomi’s son. In these languages, it may be necessary to use a word meaning “grandson.” Or you could use a simile and say, “The baby is like a son to Naomi.”

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

A grandson has been born to Naomi
-or-
Ruth has given birth to a baby boy. He will be like a son to Naomi

4:17c

and they named him Obed: The women gave the baby a name that means “servant.”

Here is another way to translate this clause:

They gave the baby the name Obed.

4:17d

He became the father of Jesse, the father of David: In the lists of names of family descendants (as in the list given at the end of this story), father of can sometimes mean “ancestor of.” In this verse, however, father does refer to the man’s immediate parent.

Here are some other ways to translate this sentence:

Obed was the father of Jesse, and Jesse was the father of David. (New Century Version)
-or-
He became the father of Jesse and the grandfather of David. (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
When Obed grew up he had a son named Jesse, who later became the father of King David. (Contemporary English Version)

© 2024 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.

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