Ruth Translation: 2:17-2:23

Hello Friends and Faithful Readers,

I need to apologize. 

For those visiting the blog or the translation project for the first time. I am taking (Biblical) Hebrew Expository. I was struggling to fully keep up with the weekly translations of Ruth. So, I decided to seek motivation and accountability by sharing my progress here. 

This project was suppose to be a daily practice. And that is what I need to make my apologize about. I missed the last two days of translations. This is the third time. I haven't been able to keep my end of the deal (I translate, you read). I really hate when I miss a day of posting. I know what it is happening. Responsibilities, life, and the need for sleep keep getting in the way. I need to also recognize that I might have some unrealistic expectations for my self. And I am discovering the process for me to translate and understand takes me longer than some of my classmates.

When I was strategizing the schedule for this project, I set goals based on daily posting. Completing three verses a day would have enabled me to be done a few days before the end of November. Then I missed that first weekend because of commitments and homework. There are only so many hours in the day. So "to keep on track" I increased the daily verse quota from three to four, and then again from four to six. 

The section that I finished today has been tricky. There are some interesting phrases that took longer for me to figure out. Yesterday it was close to 2:00 am when I had to give myself permission to stop translating, go to bed, and miss another day. I felt defeated today. I did finish the translation but I was discouraged, like I am failing at my own project.

On a happier note, as of today we are half way through Ruth!

Whoa! I'm half was there,

WHOOOA-OH translating on a prayer

Read my blog, I'll finish I swear,

WHOOOA-OH translating on a prayer

As I reflect on that victory, my perspective shifted. I had the first three verses ready to go yesterday, I just didn't post them because not all the verses where ready. Sharing something would have been better than sharing nothing. Moving forward for the second half of the Translation Project, I am going to modify my strategy. No matter what, a verse will be published everyday until Ruth is done (then it will be a different passage, because my final assignment for my Hebrew class includes a portion of translation). If I am able to share more then one verse, great, but even on the hardest days I have always had one verse ready to share. The goal is still to be done by the end of November. The December 13th exam is going to be on Ruth and these notes will be part of my studying plan.

Now on with the translations:

Ruth 1:17

And she gleaned in the field until the evening and then she threshed what she had gleaned. It was about an ephah of barley.

Ruth 1:18

She lifted it up and came to the city. And her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. And she took out and gave to her the remains from her abundance.

Ruth 1:19

And her mother-in-law said to her, "Where did you glean today and where did you work? May the one who took notice of you be blessed."

And she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, and she said, "The man's name with whom I worked was Boaz."

Ruth 1:20

And then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, "May he be blessed by the Lord, whose loyal-loving-kindness has not forsaken the living and the dead." And Naomi said to her, "This man is near to us [meaning he is a close relative], one of our kinsmen redeemers."

Ruth 1:21

Then Ruth the Moabitess said, "He even said to me, stay with my young men until they have finished all of my harvest."

Ruth 1:22

Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, Ruth, "It is best, my daughter, for you to go out with his young woman so that other [young men] do not molest you in another field."

Ruth 1:23

And so she stayed with Boaz's young woman to glean grain until the end of the barley harvest and the wheat harvest.

And she lived with her mother-in-law.

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