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  • From: "Dave Washburn" <dwashbur AT nyx.net>
  • To: b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
  • Subject: Re: Ruth 1:9
  • Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1999 11:08:00 -0700


Paul wrote:
> The second clause in Ruth 1:9 is the source of the next
> question. The clause is:
>
> UWMCE)NF MeNUWXFH )I$$FH B"YT )IY$FH.
>
> The first two words did not cause a lot of problems, and the
> group seemed to handle the third okay. But the real confusion
> came in determining how to relate the last two words, which make
> up a construct chain, to the rest of the clause. One of their
> attempts treated the chain like it had a preposition beth
> attached to it: "And you (pl) find a resting-place, each woman
> _in_ the house of her husband." Another option put forward was
> to treat the chain as if it were in apposition to the resting
> place: "And you (pl) find a resting-place, each woman, (namely)
> the house of her husband." Are they missing an obvious clue
> here? If so, I sure don't see it. How would you handle this
> clause?

Every commentary I have assumes an implied "in," as though it
read B:B"YT. A similar construction is found in 2 Kings 12:11
(Eng. 10) WRT the money that had been brought to the temple,
HANNIM:CF) B"YT YHWH (see also 2 Kgs 14:14; 16:8; 18:16;
23:24;

With B- the phrase appears in 2 Kings 22:8, 9; 23:2; 2 Chr 25:24;
34:15, 17, 30.

It almost looks to me as though the form without the B- is either a
dialect difference, or perhaps reflects an earlier stratum of the
language. In any case, translating Ruth 1:9 "in the house of her
husband" seems to have plenty of support from other passages.

Dave Washburn
http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur
A Bible that's falling apart means a life that isn't.




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