I’m currently occupied with a weekend seminar on ethics, so I’m taking a brief break from the James/Paul series.

On another front, I have been translating various portions of the K^etuvim recently (sections from both the T^ehillim [4th book] and Ruth), which is admittedly a dangerous endeavor for a NT specialist.

Nevertheless, there is a curious construction found at the end of Ruth 2:7 that has proven particularly nettlesome to me from a translation perspective.

Here’s the text in question (transliterated from BHS, 4^thedition):

Zeh shivtah habayith m^e‘aţ

If you dislike transliteration as much as I do, here’s a pointed Hebrew text of Ruth Chapter 2 (from the Aleppo Codex).

These are the presently unresolved questions I have with regard to this text:

1) What is the antecedent of the demonstrative pronoun zeh?
2) Is the pronominal suffix attached to the infinitive construct shivtah functioning as a subject or object?
3) What is the root of the infinitive construct shivtah? Is it shavath or yashav?
4) What is m^e‘aţ modifying?

And once those questions have been answered:

5) How should I translate this text?

For those who have as much of an interest in the Hebrew OT as I do, any comments or suggestions can be emailed to me here (sorry, comments closed for this one).