Ruth 1:5

Ruth 1:5

KJV

And Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them; and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband.

Hebrew

5 וַיָּמ֥וּתוּ (And died) גַם־שְׁנֵיהֶ֖ם (also her [Naomi’s] two [sons]) מַחְלֹ֣ון (Mahlon) וְכִלְיֹ֑ון (and Chilion) וַתִּשָּׁאֵר֙ (and was left) הָֽאִשָּׁ֔ה (the woman) מִשְּׁנֵ֥י (of two) יְלָדֶ֖יהָ (sons) וּמֵאִישָֽׁהּ׃(and of her husband)

Greek Septuagint

5καὶ (and) ἀπέθανον (died) καί (and) γε (also) ἀμφότεροι (both) μααλων (Mahlon) καὶ (and) χελαιων (Chilion) καὶ (and) κατελείφθη (was left) ἡ (the) γυνὴ (woman) ἀπὸ (of) τοῦ (the) ἀνδρὸς (husband) αὐτῆς (of her) καὶ (and) ἀπὸ (from) τῶν (the) δύο (two) υἱῶν (sons) αὐτῆς (of her)

Commentary

This verse is very easy to understand and needs very little explanation.

The fact that Naomi was left without her husband and two sons meant that all property and duties fell upon her, including the farm in Moab and the responsibility of working the land, which was unseemly for a woman to do, and so it was inevitable that she would have to sell the land in Moab and return back to the land of Israel. Of which we read in the following verses.

Naomi is a Hebrew name which means “my sweetness”

Mahlon and Chilion are Hebrew names which mean “sickness” and “wasting”

Name meanings are taken from the Encyclopedia Biblica.