Friday, December 4, 2009

Ruth the story and its grammar lessons

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
1.1Now 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
1.2and 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
1.3and 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
1.4and 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
1.5and 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
1.6and 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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