Though the term Again seems necessary in view of the intervening statement by Naomi, the emphasis of the Hebrew word is upon the continuation of the weeping. See Gesenius-Buhl and Brown-Driver-Briggs, s.v. ʿod. This meaning may be expressed as “they wept still more.”

The phrase started crying reflects the same expressions occurring in 1.9, which in Hebrew is literally “lifted up their voices and wept.”

Though the term for kissed in verse 14 is the same as in verse 9, it may be necessary to use some quite different expression, such as “embraced,” because of the connotations of the word kissed. Furthermore, in some languages there may be a different term used because of the difference of social position between Orpah and Naomi.

There is almost always some technical term to designate mother-in-law, but if this does not exist, one can employ some descriptive expression; for example, “the mother of her husband,” or, as in this context, “the mother of her deceased husband.”

As in verse 9, it may be necessary to translate kissed … good-bye as “kissed and said good-bye.”

At this point (that is, between … good-bye and but Ruth …) the Septuagint adds “and she went back to her people.” The Syriac version also has an extra expression, but a somewhat different wording: “she returned and went her way.” The fact that both extra expressions have a different wording makes it highly improbable that they were originally part of the primitive Hebrew text, as suggested by Dhorme (ad loc.). Instead we have to judge these extra expressions as good, early examples of the translation technique of making implicit information explicit. This information is, of course, implicit in the Hebrew text, and in some cases it may be necessary to make this fact explicit in translation.

The expression held on to is a translation of a Hebrew verb meaning “to cleave,” and it has the figurative meaning of loyalty and affection, as well as the meaning of being close to something or someone. A translation such as “to stay with” (New American Bible) is rather weak, and something like “remained close to her” may be understood only in the physical sense.

Quoted with permission from de Waard, Jan and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Ruth. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1978, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .