Ruth 3:3 the verbal form ytdryw

Omonisaye

Henry

1.

ytdryw

this verbal form is analyzed thus: waw consecutive, qal suffix form

(perfect) second person feminine singular from the root

dry meaning to go down. The tdryw. But we have a

ordinary for of the verb which we have now has this spelling

as the last letter, thus we have a different consonant composition for the some verbal

form. This is explained on the basis of ketib (scriptum) and qre (lectum). The consonant to be read is at the margin of the text while the vowel in the text is maintained. The ketib is said to keep the archaic form of the spelling. This means that the form under consideration is the archaic form of the verb in this conjugation. 2. Gesenius-Kautzsch-Cowley affirms that we find the y sometimes at the end of the 2nd feminine singular. This verb belongs to a suffixed verbal system, thus, the personal pronoun is used for the inflections. Thus, yT.a; (yTia;-the original feminine form) is used. The final i was, however, gradually dropped in pronunciation, it was eventually only written, not pronounced. The pointed the word in the text as

y therefore finally disappeared. The Masoretes have

e

yT.a; to indicate the Q re T.a;; ( 32h). The

final i regularly reappears when pronominal suffixes are added ( 44h). 3. Another instance of the form is in Ruth 3:4- yT.b.k'_v'w> 4. Other instances in the Hebrew Bible include: Jer. 31:21, 2:33, 3:4,5 46:11; Ezek 16:18

5. The book of Ruth cannot be dated with precision. This is partly because of the mixture of both the early and late Biblical Hebrew features. However, the diachronic change in two stages of a language does not consist in the absolute replace of one linguistic feature by the other but by the frequency of the usage. Therefore, I think that this point accounts for the presence of this form in the book of Ruth and it may be said to belong to the transitory period of the development of the language. 6. Naomi is the speaker, she was instructing Ruth on what to do. While in 2:21, we have the form

!yqiB'd>Ti

it is the prefix form (imperfect) of the qal, second

feminine singular; from the root

qbd

while the

! is a remnant of the old feminine

ending in the shortened form that is still found in our text. Here, Ruth reports the instruction of Boaz (2:8) to her. Therefore, it is found in the speech of Boaz. The common denominator of these forms is the fact that they are remnants of the archaic verbal endings and they are found on the lips of the older people in the story i.e., Boaz and Naomi both of them instructing Ruth. This might therefore be a deliberate plot of the narrator to present to us the remnants of the archaic verbal forms through the lips of the older characters of the plot. This also indicates that the Book of Ruth does not really belong to the very late Biblical Hebrew Period. Thus, it shares some archaic features found in the earlier Biblical Hebrew. 7. Naomi is giving the instructions to Ruth, this is different from the situation in chapter 2 where Ruth took the initiative to go out and glean in order to sustain the family. There is also a transformation taking place; a transformation from the state of poverty to plenty, despair to hope, from bareness to a dim light of fruitfulness because the plan is just

underway. Naomi is no longer going to be called

ar"m' because yD:v;

is

doing hessed to her this time around. The story is turning gradually towards the pleasing side.
BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Bush, F., Ruth, Esther (WBC) vol 9 (Texas) 1996 2. Campbell, E., Ruth, (TAB) (New York) 1975 3. Gesenius-Kautzsch-Cowley, Gesenius Hebrew Grammar (Oxford) 1910 4. Jouon-Muraoka, A Grammar of Biblical Hebrew (Rome) 1991 5. Bibilia Hebraica Stuttgartensia