I wonder how much of the paradigm of the verb to be is in the story of Ruth. I will be looking. And I am almost ready to try and recompose myself to explore the grammar and the story - we only got as far as verse 6. There is conflict in my resources as to where sections begin and end. This is because there is overlap in the story markers. Story markers are pairs of words or word forms that begin and end a section. Does verse 6 require that it be the beginning of a second section or the end of the first? Or is it both?
Ephratites/Ephrata (1:2, 4:11) and the children/child (1:5, 4:16) are a frame for the whole story, fields of Moab seem to me a frame for this first section. We can also see the usage of prepositions (or not) around place names.Verse 6 (per Campbell's analysis) also begins a new section for Naomi - divisible into two sections as I will show later, but carrying us all the way to the end of chapter 1. Fields of Moab and Bethlehem form the frame for the chapter as a whole.
מגילת רות | The Scroll of Ruth | ||
פרק 1 | Chapter 1 | ||
א וַיְהִי בִּימֵי שְׁפֹט הַשֹּׁפְטִים וַיְהִי רָעָב בָּאָרֶץ וַיֵּלֶךְ אִישׁ מִבֵּית לֶחֶם יְהוּדָה לָגוּר בִּשְׂדֵי מוֹאָב הוּא וְאִשְׁתּו וּשְׁנֵי בָנָיו | 1.1 | Now there was in the days of the judgment of the judges, and there was a famine in the land. and he went a man from the house of bread (Bethlehem) of Judah to stay in the fields of Moab he, his wife, and his two sons | |
ב וְשֵׁם הָאִישׁ אֱלִימֶלֶךְ וְשֵׁם אִשְׁתּוֹ נָעֳמִי וְשֵׁם שְׁנֵי-בָנָיו מַחְלוֹן וְכִלְיוֹן אֶפְרָתִים מִבֵּית לֶחֶם יְהוּדָה וַיָּבֹאוּ שְׂדֵי-מוֹאָב וַיִּהְיוּ שָׁם | 1.2 | and the name of the man was Elimelek and the name of his wife Naomi and the name of his two sons, Maxlon and Chilion Ephratites from Bethlehem of Judah and they came to the fields of Moab and they were there | |
ג וַיָּמָת אֱלִימֶלֶךְ אִישׁ נָעֳמִי וַתִּשָּׁאֵר הִיא וּשְׁנֵי בָנֶיהָ | 1.3 | and he died Elimelek the husband of Naomi and she was bereft and her two sons | |
ד וַיִּשְׂאוּ לָהֶם נָשִׁים מֹאֲבִיּוֹת שֵׁם הָאַחַת עָרְפָּה וְשֵׁם הַשֵּׁנִית רוּת וַיֵּשְׁבוּ שָׁם כְּעֶשֶׂר שָׁנִים | 1.4 | and they took for themselves Moabite wives the name of the one Orpah, and the name of the second Ruth and they lived there for ten years | |
ה וַיָּמֻתוּ גַם-שְׁנֵיהֶם מַחְלוֹן וְכִלְיוֹן וַתִּשָּׁאֵר הָאִשָּׁה מִשְּׁנֵי יְלָדֶיהָ וּמֵאִישָׁהּ | 1.5 | and they died - even the two of them - Maxlon and Chilion and she was bereft, the woman, of her two children and of her husband | |
ו וַתָּקָם הִיא וְכַלֹּתֶיהָ וַתָּשָׁב מִשְּׂדֵי מוֹאָב כִּי שָׁמְעָה בִּשְׂדֵה מוֹאָב כִּי-פָקַד יְהוָה אֶת-עַמּוֹ לָתֵת לָהֶם לָחֶם | 1.6 | and she arose, she and her daughters in law to return from the fields of Moab for she had heard in the fields of Moab that יְהוָה had visited his people to give to them bread |
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