Ruth 1:2

Ruth 1:2

KJV                 

And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehemjudah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there.

(Bible.cc)

Hebrew Bible

 2 וְשֵׁם (The name)   הָאִישׁ (of the man) אֱ‍לִימֶלֶךְ (Elimelech) וְשֵׁם (and the name) אִשְׁתֹּו (of his wife) נָעֳמִי (Naomi) וְשֵׁם (and the name) שְׁנֵי־בָנָיו (of his two sons) ׀ מַחְלֹון (Mahlon) וְכִלְיֹון (and Chillion) אֶפְרָתִים (Ephrathites) מִבֵּית (from Beth-) לֶחֶם (lehem) יְהוּדָה (Judah)  וַיָּבֹאוּ (entered) שְׂדֵי־מֹואָב (the land of Moab) וַיִּהְיוּ־שָׁם (and remained there)׃

(biblos.com)

Septuagint (Greek)

2καὶ ὄνομα τῷ ἀνδρὶ αβιμελεχ καὶ ὄνομα τῇ γυναικὶ αὐτοῦ νωεμιν καὶ ὄνομα τοῖς δυσὶν υἱοῖς αὐτοῦ μααλων καὶ χελαιων εφραθαῖοι ἐκ βαιθλεεμ τῆς ιουδα καὶ ἤλθοσαν εἰς ἀγρὸν μωαβ καὶ ἦσαν ἐκεῖ 

(biblos.com)

And the name of the man was Elimelech

Gill writes in His commentary of the Bible: “And the name of the man was Elimelech, [Eli = God, Melech = King] .... Which signifies "my God is King", as he was King over Israel. In the times of the judges, the government was a theocracy; the judges were raised up immediately by the Lord, and ruled under him;”

Notice that the word “was” in our Bibles is usually written in italics which indicates that it is not found in the original language of Scripture. This is because that unlike English and Greek, the Hebrew language does not have and word for the verb “to be” of and derived words, including the word “was” which is the past tense of “to be”.

Also of note, is that the word “was” is not found in the Septuagint which takes on the exact sentence form as the original Hebrew.

And the name of his wife Naomi

According to Clarke, the name Naomi means “Beautiful” or “Pleasant”. We will find later in the chapter that Naomi changes her name to “Mara” which means bitter, which is in direct contrast to her name on Naomi.

And the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion

Mahlon - Infirmity.

Chilion - Finished, completed.

(Clarkes commentary)

And according to the Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary: “Mahlon and Chilion, are supposed to be the same as Joash and Saraph (1Ch 4:22)”. Although this is only based on the association with the land of Moab.

Ephrathites of Bethlehemjudah

Ephrath is just another name for Bethlehem. Also known as Bethlehem Ephrathah.

This is the Bethlehem where our Lord Jesus Christ was born. (see commentary on Ruth 1:1)

And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there.

The Moabites were related to the Israelites, as they were descendants of Lot. (see commentary on Ruth 1:1)