Semantic Analysis: Ruth (Whole Book)

Methodological Note on Original Language

Ruth was composed in Biblical Hebrew, not Koine Greek. Because this Language Package’s baseline (Romans) analyzed a Greek New Testament book, and because the destination-language conventions here must interlock with that Greek-sourced baseline (e.g. κύριος → Seigneur, θεός → Dieu, χάρις → grâce), every entry below gives:

1. The Hebrew original (Masoretic Text) with transliteration and literal meaning;
2. The Septuagint (LXX) Koine Greek rendering, since the LXX is the Greek textual tradition the New Testament writers themselves quote from and the bridge to this curriculum’s other NT books (Matthew’s genealogy, Luke’s infancy narrative, Romans 4’s Abraham typology all echo Ruth’s vocabulary);
3. The French rendering, checked against translation_memory.json for exact reuse where the underlying concept is the same one already fixed in the Romans baseline.

Where a baseline term is reused, this is marked [BASELINE — REUSE EXACTLY]. Where a new term must be added to translation memory for this curriculum, it is marked [NEW TERM].

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CORE PASSAGE: Ruth 1:16–17 (Verse-by-Verse)

Ruth 1:16

Hebrew: וַתֹּאמֶר רוּת אַל־תִּפְגְּעִי־בִי לְעָזְבֵךְ לָשׁוּב מֵאַחֲרָיִךְ כִּי אֶל־אֲשֶׁר תֵּלְכִי אֵלֵךְ וּבַאֲשֶׁר תָּלִינִי אָלִין עַמֵּךְ עַמִּי וֵאלֹהַיִךְ אֱלֹהָי LXX: εἶπεν δὲ Ρουθ· μὴ καταλείψῃς με τοῦ ἀποστρέψαι ἀπὸ ὄπισθέν σου· ὅτι σὺ ὅπου ἐὰν πορευθῇς πορεύσομαι, καὶ οὗ ἐὰν αὐλισθῇς αὐλισθήσομαι· ὁ λαός σου λαός μου, καὶ ὁ θεός σου θεός μου

Terms	Variants	Contextual Theological Meaning	French Rendering Risk
”do not urge/press me” פָּגַע (Heb.) / καταλείπω (LXX shift) paga’ / kataleipō ”to strike against, press upon, entreat urgently” (Heb.); LXX shifts to “abandon”	Heb.: forceful entreaty, confrontation; LXX: forsaking, leaving behind ”do not urge,” “do not entreat,” “do not press”	Ruth pre-emptively refuses Naomi’s dismissal; the LXX’s shift to “abandon” (καταλείπω) recasts Ruth’s plea as “do not make me forsake you,” subtly intensifying the loyalty theme	Medium. French must render the force of the refusal (“ne me presse pas de te quitter” / “ne me demande pas de t’abandonner”), not a soft “please don’t ask” that loses Ruth’s resolve.
”leave” עָזַב azav ”to abandon, forsake, let go”	Abandonment of a person, place, covenant, or God ”leave,” “abandon,” “forsake”	Same root used of Israel “forsaking” the LORD (idolatry) — Ruth’s refusal to “forsake” Naomi echoes covenant-fidelity vocabulary	Medium. French “abandonner” carries the correct covenantal weight; avoid weaker “partir."
"return” שׁוּב shuv ”to turn back, return”	Physical return; also Israel’s repentance / “returning to the LORD” (Deut 30:2; Joel 2:12) “return,” “turn back,” “go back”	This is the book’s structural refrain (used ~12x in ch. 1). Naomi urges return to Moab; Ruth refuses to return, choosing instead an irrevocable turn toward Israel’s God — an ironic inversion of the normal “return to your own gods” pattern	High. French “retourner/revenir” is accurate lexically but flat; teaching contexts must flag the thematic weight (this is Ruth’s decisive non-return, a conversion-shaped refusal) so translators do not treat it as mere travel logistics. [NEW TERM]
“go” הָלַךְ halakh ”to walk, go, journey”	Physical movement; also “walking with/before God” (covenant conduct, cf. Gen 17:1) “go,” “walk,” “journey”	Ruth’s vow to go wherever Naomi goes mirrors covenantal “walking with” language	Low. French “aller” is adequate; no distortion risk.
”lodge” לוּן / לִין lun ”to spend the night, lodge”	Temporary dwelling; hospitality context ”lodge,” “stay,” “dwell for the night”	Signals total, unconditional companionship — not a visit but shared life	Low. French “loger, passer la nuit” is adequate.
”people” עַם (Heb.) / λαός (LXX) am / laos ”people, kinship-nation”	Ethnic-covenantal community; Israel as YHWH’s own people (cf. Exod 6:7) “people,” “nation,” “kinsfolk”	Ruth the Moabite renounces her own am (Moab) to be grafted into Israel’s am — the book’s central Gentile-inclusion statement in miniature. LXX’s λαός is the same word Paul uses of Israel as God’s people (Rom 9:25, 11:1)	Critical. This is the doctrinal hinge for “Inclusion of Gentiles.” French “peuple” is lexically correct but must be taught with the ethnic-covenantal weight intact — this is Ruth renouncing national/religious identity, not merely moving house. Must not be flattened to “communauté” or softened into a generic social statement.
”God” אֱלֹהִים (Heb.) / θεός (LXX) Elohim / theos ”God”	The true covenant God of Israel, as opposed to Moabite deities (notably Chemosh) “God”	Ruth’s declaration explicitly renounces her ancestral gods for the God of Israel — this is a conversion statement, the theological centerpiece of the entire book	Critical. [BASELINE — REUSE EXACTLY: Dieu]. Must be capitalized and unambiguous; the force of “your God [will be] my God” as personal confession of exclusive allegiance, not cultural accommodation, must be preserved.

Ruth 1:17

Hebrew: בַּאֲשֶׁר תָּמוּתִי אָמוּת וְשָׁם אֶקָּבֵר יַעֲשֶׂה יְהוָה לִּי כֹה וְכֹה וְכֹה יֹסִיף כִּי הַמָּוֶת יַפְרִיד בֵּינִי וּבֵינֵךְ LXX: καὶ οὗ ἐὰν ἀποθάνῃς ἀποθανοῦμαι, καὶ ἐκεῖ ταφήσομαι· τάδε ποιήσαι μοι κύριος καὶ τάδε προσθείη, ὅτι θάνατος διαστελεῖ ἀνὰ μέσον ἐμοῦ καὶ σοῦ

Terms	Variants	Contextual Theological Meaning	French Rendering Risk
”die” מוּת (Heb.) / ἀποθνήσκω (LXX) mut / apothnēskō ”to die”	Physical death; covenantal totality (“until death”) “die”	Extends the vow beyond life to death itself — total, unconditional loyalty	Low. French “mourir” is direct.
”buried” קָבַר (Heb.) / θάπτω (LXX) qavar / thaptō ”to bury”	Physical burial; belonging to a people/land even in death ”be buried,” “buried”	Ruth asks to share Israel’s soil in death — a total renunciation of Moabite identity, including burial rites tied to ancestral gods	Medium. French “être enseveli/enterré” is accurate; teaching note should flag that ANE burial customs bound the dead to their ancestral god/land, making this a statement of ultimate covenant belonging, not mere sentiment.
”the LORD” (divine name, Tetragrammaton) יהוה (Heb.) / κύριος (LXX) YHWH / kyrios God’s proper covenant name, revealed to Moses (Exod 3:14-15)	The personal, self-existent covenant God of Israel — distinct from the generic Elohim ”the LORD,” “Yahweh,” “Jehovah”	Ruth invokes YHWH by his covenant name in a self-maledictory oath — remarkable for a Moabite convert; she now swears by Israel’s God as her own	Critical. [NEW TERM — see Glossary “yhwh_divine_name.”] French Bible tradition splits between l’Éternel (Segond) and le Seigneur (TOB/NBS, small-caps convention “le SEIGNEUR”). Recommend “le SEIGNEUR” (small caps) for this curriculum’s ecumenical register, noting l’Éternel as the Segond-tradition variant for reviewers. Must be typographically distinguished from the lowercase human honorific “seigneur” used of Boaz (2:13; see Ch. 2 below) to avoid collapsing the divine name into a mere human title, and must be read alongside the baseline’s “lord” entry (κύριος = Seigneur, Rom 10:9) since the LXX’s own choice of κύριος here is the direct etymological ancestor of the NT’s confession “Jésus est Seigneur."
"may [the LORD] do so to me” עָשָׂה (Heb.) / ποιέω (LXX) asah / poieō ”to do, act, perform”	Idiom introducing a self-maledictory oath formula ”may [the LORD] deal with me,” “so may [the LORD] do to me”	A binding covenant oath-formula (cf. 1 Sam 3:17; 2 Kgs 6:31) — Ruth invites divine judgment on herself if she breaks the vow	Medium. French idiom “que le SEIGNEUR me fasse ceci et cela” (Segond-style) or “que le SEIGNEUR me traite selon toute sa rigueur” must retain the oath register, not read as casual imprecation.
”part/separate” פָּרַד (Heb.) / διαστέλλω (LXX) parad / diastellō ”to divide, separate”	Physical/relational separation ”part,” “separate,” “divide”	Only death itself is permitted to separate Ruth from Naomi — the vow’s absolute, unconditional character	Medium. French “séparer” is accurate; the force (“rien excepté la mort ne nous séparera”) must retain the unconditional, covenantal absoluteness — this is the OT root of NT “nothing can separate” assurance language (cf. Rom 8:38-39, already in baseline as “Assurance of Salvation”). Worth a cross-reference note for teaching continuity.

Summary theological note on Ruth 1:16-17: This passage is simultaneously a loyalty/hesed vow, a conversion confession (renouncing Moab’s gods and people for Israel’s), and — read canonically — the seed of the Gentile-inclusion and Davidic-genealogy doctrines that the rest of the book unfolds. Every term above carries theological freight disproportionate to its grammatical simplicity; none should be treated as routine narrative prose in translation.

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CHAPTER-BY-CHAPTER ANALYSIS

Chapter 1 (full chapter, including core passage above)

Beyond the core-passage terms already treated, Chapter 1 introduces:

Terms	Variants	Contextual Theological Meaning	French Rendering Risk
hesed חֶסֶד (Heb.) / ἔλεος, δικαιοσύνη (LXX, varies) chesed ”covenant loving-kindness, loyal love”	Steadfast love rooted in covenant obligation; combines tenderness (kindness) with faithfulness (loyalty) — no single English or French word captures both ”kindness,” “loving-kindness,” “faithfulness,” “mercy”	Ruth 1:8 — Naomi blesses her daughters-in-law for the chesed they showed the dead and her; this launches the book’s title doctrine, culminating in Boaz’s chesed (2:20, 3:10) and, implicitly, YHWH’s own chesed worked through human agents	Critical. [NEW TERM] No French word covers both dimensions. Baseline’s “grâce” is already fixed for χάρις (unmerited gift) and must NOT be reused here — that would conflate hesed’s relational/covenantal loyalty with the NT’s forensic unmerited favor, collapsing two distinct doctrines. Recommend “bonté fidèle” as the primary compound rendering (cf. Segond’s “bonté,” TOB/NBS’s “fidélité” — this curriculum needs both halves visible). Register with translation memory as new Critical-risk entry.
divine visitation פָּקַד (Heb.) / ἐπισκέπτομαι (LXX) paqad / episkeptomai ”to attend to, visit, take note of”	God’s active, purposive intervention in ordinary circumstances (famine relief, 1:6) “visited,” “attended to,” “had regard for”	Providence-doctrine term: YHWH’s “visiting” his people with bread anchors the entire book’s implicit theology — nothing in Ruth is “mere chance.” The LXX verb ἐπισκέπτομαι is the same one used of God in Luke 1:68 and 7:16 (“God has visited his people”)	High. [NEW TERM] French “visiter” risks a weak, casual reading (a social call). Prefer “intervenir en faveur de” or a glossed “visiter (au sens biblique d’intervention bienveillante).” Cross-reference to baseline’s “providence” entry (Medium risk, deist-abstraction concern) — this term supplies Ruth’s narrative instance of the doctrine “providence” names abstractly.
Shaddai / the Almighty שַׁדַּי Shaddai Divine title, traditionally “the Almighty,” etymology debated (possibly “mountain one” or “all-sufficient one”)	God’s sovereign, often severe, sovereignty especially over suffering/affliction ”the Almighty”	Naomi twice invokes Shaddai (1:20-21) specifically in lament over affliction — pairs God’s sovereignty with her bitterness, a raw honesty about providence-amid-suffering that must not be sanitized	Medium. French “le Tout-Puissant” is standard and adequate; risk is losing the lament register in which it appears — this is not triumphant praise but pained protest addressed to a sovereign God.
Naomi / Mara wordplay נָעֳמִי / מָרָא No’omi / Mara ”my pleasantness” / “bitter”	Personal-name theology; Hebrew narrative convention of meaningful names (proper names, untranslated)	Naomi’s self-renaming to “Mara” is a theological statement about her circumstances under God’s hand (1:20-21, “the Almighty has dealt bitterly with me”) — anticipates the reversal accomplished by the book’s end	Medium. Proper names are retained untransliterated in French (Naomi, Mara) per standard convention, but the meaning must be supplied in a teaching gloss or footnote, since French readers cannot derive “pleasant/bitter” from the names themselves.
return (thematic refrain) שׁוּב shuv see above	— —	(see core passage entry above; the term recurs ~12x through ch. 1, framing the whole chapter)	High (as above).
Moab / Moabite(ess) מוֹאָב / מוֹאָבִיָּה Mo’av / Mo’avyah Ethnic-national designation	Israel’s historic, religiously-charged rival nation (Num 25; Deut 23:3-6 explicitly excludes Moabites “even to the tenth generation” from Israel’s assembly) “Moab,” “Moabite,” “Moabitess”	Ruth’s ethnic identity is repeatedly foregrounded (1:4, 22; 2:2, 6, 21; 4:5, 10) precisely because it is the scandal the book overturns — a woman from an explicitly excluded, historically hostile nation becomes David’s great-grandmother	Critical. French “Moabite” is a stable proper-adjective form, but the doctrinal risk is that French readers (lacking OT literacy per baseline notes) will miss the Deuteronomy 23 exclusion background entirely, flattening “Inclusion of Gentiles” into a vague multiculturalism rather than a specific, scandalous covenant reversal. Requires an explanatory note wherever the doctrine is taught.
Bethlehem (“house of bread”) בֵּית לֶחֶם Beit Lechem ”house of bread”	Place name with ironic literary resonance: the family leaves the “house of bread” because of famine (1:1) and returns to it as bread again becomes available (1:6, 22) “Bethlehem”	Sets up the book’s Providence and (canonically) Christological resonance (cf. John 6:35, “bread of life,” born in Bethlehem)	Low. Proper name retained as “Bethléem” (standard French Bible form); etymological wordplay worth a teaching footnote but carries no doctrinal distortion risk on its own.
daughter-in-law כַּלָּה kallah ”daughter-in-law, bride”	Family/legal relational term ”daughter-in-law”	Establishes the legal-familial bond that Ruth’s chesed-loyalty transcends (she is not blood-bound to Naomi, making her loyalty voluntary, not obligatory)	Low. French “belle-fille” is standard.

Chapter 2

Introduces the book’s second major doctrinal cluster (Providence, the seed of Kinsman-Redeemer vocabulary, and the “favor/grace” idiom):

Terms	Variants	Contextual Theological Meaning	French Rendering Risk
favor / grace חֵן (Heb.) / χάρις (LXX) chen / charis ”favor, grace, that which is pleasing”	Unearned goodwill shown by a superior to a dependent ”favor,” “grace”	Ruth’s repeated request to “find favor” (2:2, 10, 13) is the same Greek word (χάρις) the NT uses for saving grace (cf. Luke 1:30, “found favor with God”) — but here denotes Boaz’s social kindness, not soteriological grace	High. [BASELINE — REUSE EXACTLY where the underlying Hebrew is חֵן: grâce.] Distinct from hesed (rendered “bonté fidèle” — see Ch. 1). Must be flagged for reviewers: this is a genuine doctrinal distinction point — Hebrew has two different words (chen and chesed) that English blurs together as “kindness/favor/grace”; French must not blur them either.
kinsman-redeemer / redeem גֹּאֵל / גָּאַל (Heb.) / ἀγχιστεύς, ἀγχιστεύω (LXX) go’el / ga’al ”one who redeems by right of close kinship; to redeem, buy back, act as next-of-kin”	Legal-familial office: a near relative’s duty to redeem land, persons, or family name (Lev 25:25; Deut 25:5-10) “close relative,” “kinsman-redeemer,” “redeemer”	First appears at 2:20 (“he is one of our redeemers”) — introduces the legal institution that structures the rest of the book and typologically anticipates Christ’s redemption (cf. baseline’s Romans “justification”/“grace” doctrines, and Eph 1:7, “redemption through his blood”)	Critical. [NEW TERM] French “rédempteur” already carries strong Christological resonance (le Rédempteur = a title for Christ in French Catholic and Protestant devotion). This is theologically appropriate as typology but risks readers missing the concrete ANE legal institution (land redemption, levirate marriage, name-preservation) underneath it. Recommend primary rendering “rédempteur” with a required qualifying gloss on first use: “le plus proche parent, qui a le droit et le devoir de racheter” (cf. Segond’s periphrastic “celui qui a le droit de rachat”). Flag every occurrence for human theologian review given the direct typological line to Christ.
foreign woman נָכְרִיָּה nokriyah ”foreign, strange, non-Israelite”	Outsider status, often with negative religious connotation (cf. “foreign gods,” “foreign wife” in Ezra-Nehemiah) “foreigner,” “foreign woman,” “stranger”	Boaz’s own workers identify Ruth by her outsider status (2:10) even as the narrative moves to include her — dramatizes the “Inclusion of Gentiles” doctrine at the social level	High. French “étrangère” is accurate but must retain the mild pejorative edge present in the Hebrew register (as with baseline’s “païens/gentiles” caution) so the reversal Boaz enacts (treating the nokriyah with covenant kindness) retains its force.
wings/refuge כָּנָף / חָסָה (Heb.) / πτέρυξ (LXX) kanaph / chasah ”wing, edge of garment” / “to seek refuge, take shelter”	Protective imagery — a bird sheltering its young; by extension, divine protection ”wings,” “under whose wings,” “take refuge”	Boaz’s blessing (2:12) — “under whose wings you have come to take refuge” — attributes Ruth’s flight to Israel’s God to divine, not merely social, refuge; this same image recurs literally at 3:9 when Ruth asks Boaz to spread his “wing”/garment-corner over her, linking divine and human protection	High. [NEW TERM] French “ailes” (2:12) is fine alone, but translators must be alerted to the deliberate literary echo with 3:9’s “pan de vêtement” (garment corner) — losing this connection in translation loses a key structural link between Providence (God’s wings) and the Kinsman-Redeemer (Boaz’s garment) doctrines.
gleaning לֶקֶט / לָקַט leqet / laqat ”gleanings; to glean, gather leftover grain”	Torah social-welfare provision for the poor, widow, and foreigner (Lev 19:9-10; Deut 24:19-21) “glean,” “gleanings”	Ruth’s gleaning is the concrete mechanism of God’s ordinary providence — no miracle occurs; Torah’s built-in care for the vulnerable operates through Boaz’s obedience	Medium. French “glaner” is standard vocabulary but the underlying Torah welfare-law background needs a teaching footnote for a biblically low-literacy readership per the baseline’s stated audience profile.
happening / chance מִקְרֶה (Heb.) / περιπίπτω (LXX, “she happened upon”) miqreh ”chance occurrence, happenstance”	Everyday language for the unplanned; theologically loaded by narrative context ”as it happened,” “she happened to come,” “by chance”	Ruth 2:3 — the narrator’s deliberately understated language (“her chance chanced”) sets up the entire book’s Providence doctrine: what looks like coincidence is, in fact, sovereign orchestration	High. [NEW TERM] French “hasard” is the natural lexical choice but is the single riskiest word in the whole book for the Providence doctrine — “hasard” in modern French connotes pure randomness devoid of purpose, the opposite of what the narrator intends. Must be flagged for native-speaker/theologian review every occurrence and never left without a clarifying teaching note (cf. baseline’s own caution about deist “la Providence” abstraction).
repay/reward fully שָׁלֵם shalem ”to be complete, pay in full, repay”	Full, complete recompense — root shared with shalom (peace, wholeness) “repay,” “reward fully”	Boaz’s prayer (2:12) that the LORD “repay” Ruth’s deed connects reward-language to the completeness/wholeness of covenant blessing	Low. French “récompenser pleinement” is adequate.
blessed בָּרוּךְ barukh ”blessed”	Standard blessing formula, invoking divine favor on a person ”blessed,” “may he be blessed”	2:19-20 — Naomi’s spontaneous blessing of Boaz upon learning his identity marks the narrative turn toward hope	Low. French “béni” is standard.

Chapter 3

Introduces the legal-marital vocabulary that will resolve in Chapter 4, with attendant honor/shame sensitivities:

Terms	Variants	Contextual Theological Meaning	French Rendering Risk
threshing floor גֹּרֶן goren Agricultural setting for winnowing grain	Ordinary rural life setting; also a place associated (in surrounding culture) with fertility-cult overtones the narrative deliberately avoids ”threshing floor”	The scene’s setting requires careful handling: Naomi’s plan and Ruth’s actions are bold but the text insists on their propriety (cf. 3:14, Boaz sends her away before dawn, unseen)	Medium. French “aire de battage” is accurate; the honor/shame dynamics of the scene (per baseline’s own flagged category “cultural metaphors… honor/shame dynamics”) require native-speaker review to avoid either prudish softening or salacious over-reading in a francophone secular readership unfamiliar with ANE customs.
garment corner / wing כָּנָף kanaph ”wing, edge/corner of a garment”	See Ch. 2 note — same word as “wings” in 2:12 ”corner of your garment,” “cloak,” “covering”	Ruth’s request that Boaz “spread his kanaph over” her (3:9) is a recognized ANE marriage-proposal idiom, deliberately echoing Boaz’s own blessing in 2:12 — she asks the man to become, in himself, the shelter he had prayed God would provide	High. French must retain this callback (e.g. rendering both instances with a shared root image, “aile/pan de vêtement,” with a cross-reference note) — see Ch. 2 entry. Losing the verbal echo between 2:12 and 3:9 loses a central literary-theological argument of the book: God’s providence works through Boaz’s concrete, willing kinsman-action.
kinsman-redeemer גֹּאֵל go’el See Ch. 2 entry	— “redeemer,” “next of kin”	3:9, 12-13 — Ruth explicitly names Boaz a go’el, formally invoking the legal institution; Boaz reveals there is a nearer kinsman with prior right, building suspense resolved in ch. 4	Critical (as above; consistent rendering required across chs. 2-4).
woman of noble character אֵשֶׁת חַיִל ’eshet chayil ”woman of strength/valor/substance”	Same phrase used of the ideal wife in Proverbs 31:10 ”woman of noble character,” “worthy woman,” “excellent woman”	Boaz’s assessment of Ruth (3:11) deliberately echoes wisdom literature’s ideal-woman language, commending Ruth’s chesed-shaped conduct as wisdom embodied	Medium. French “femme de valeur / femme vertueuse” is standard (echoing Proverbs 31 in French Bible tradition); cross-reference note to Proverbs helpful for teaching but not doctrinally hazardous on its own.
rest / security מְנוּחָה menuchah ”rest, place of security”	Domestic/marital security, a settled home (cf. 1:9) “rest,” “security,” “home”	Naomi’s goal for Ruth (3:1) — marriage as provision of settled security — frames the chapter’s legal action as an act of covenant care, not mere social advancement	Low. French “repos, sécurité” is adequate.
right of redemption גְּאוּלָה ge’ulah Abstract noun form of ga’al — “the act/right of redemption”	Legal-technical term for the redemption transaction itself ”right of redemption,” “redemption”	Names the legal mechanism (land/family redemption rights) that chapter 4 will formally execute	High. Keep consistent with “rédempteur/racheter” word family chosen for go’el/ga’al (see Ch. 2) — inconsistent French vocabulary here would obscure the legal unity of chs. 2-4.

Chapter 4

The resolution chapter: legal proceedings at the city gate, and the genealogy that anchors the Davidic/Christological doctrine.

Terms	Variants	Contextual Theological Meaning	French Rendering Risk
the gate שַׁעַר sha’ar ”gate” (of the city)	The customary public site for legal/civic transactions and witnessed agreements in ANE towns ”the gate,” “the town gate”	4:1, 11 — the legal redemption transaction is conducted publicly, with witnesses, underscoring that this is a formal, binding legal act, not a private romantic decision	Medium. French “la porte (de la ville)” is accurate; a brief cultural-legal footnote helps a French readership unfamiliar with ANE civic custom.
elders / witnesses זְקֵנִים / עֵדִים zeqenim / edim ”elders” / “witnesses”	Civic-legal officiants and witnesses ”elders,” “witnesses”	Formalizes the redemption and marriage as a publicly ratified covenant act, echoed in the whole community’s blessing (4:11-12)	Low. French “anciens / témoins” standard.
the sandal (custom) נַעַל na’al ”sandal”	Legal-symbolic gesture finalizing a redemption/levirate transaction (cf. Deut 25:9-10) “sandal,” “shoe”	4:7-8 — removing and handing over the sandal formally transfers/relinquishes the right of redemption; the unnamed kinsman’s refusal opens the way for Boaz	Medium. French “sandale” is accurate; the custom itself is culturally opaque to modern French readers and requires an explanatory footnote — no doctrinal distortion risk if the custom is explained, but silent transmission risks bewildering the reader.
so-and-so (unnamed kinsman) פְּלֹנִי אַלְמֹנִי peloni almoni Idiomatic placeholder — “a certain one,” “Mr. So-and-so”	Deliberate narrative anonymization ”a certain kinsman,” “so-and-so,” “friend”	The narrator deliberately withholds this man’s name while preserving Boaz’s and Ruth’s — a literary device highlighting whose story God is advancing	Low. French “un certain…” or “l’homme dont on ne dit pas le nom” — minor literary note, no doctrinal risk.
raise up the name שֵׁם shem ”name”	Preserving a dead man’s lineage/inheritance through levirate marriage (Deut 25:5-10) “perpetuate the name,” “raise up the name of the dead”	4:5, 10 — the stated legal purpose of the marriage: preserving Elimelech/Mahlon’s line and inheritance, directly setting up the genealogy that follows	High. French “perpétuer le nom” needs the levirate-custom background supplied; without it, the marriage’s stated legal purpose (name/inheritance preservation, not romance) is lost, along with its connection to the baseline’s “seed_of_david” doctrine.
inheritance נַחֲלָה nachalah ”inheritance, allotted possession”	Land/property rights tied to family and tribal identity in the Promised Land ”inheritance,” “property,” “estate”	The redemption transaction concerns land inheritance rights — ties Ruth’s story to Israel’s larger covenant-land theology	Medium. French “héritage” is standard; theological resonance with the NT’s “inheritance” language (adoption, Rom 8) worth a cross-reference note.
genealogy תּוֹלְדוֹת toledot ”generations, genealogical record”	Structuring device throughout Genesis and here; frames history as purposefully unfolding toward a goal ”genealogy,” “generations,” “family line”	4:18-22 — the book’s climax is not a moral but a genealogical fact: Ruth the Moabite is King David’s great-grandmother. Canonically this genealogy is picked up and extended in Matthew 1:5	High. French “généalogie” is lexically accurate but risks being read as inert historical record; must be taught as deliberately purposeful — the entire narrative exists to produce this genealogical line, which the NT (Matthew) explicitly continues to Christ.
begat / bore יָלַד yalad ”to bear, beget”	Genealogical formula verb ”was the father of,” “bore,” “begat”	Repeated verb structuring 4:18-22, mirroring Genesis’s toledot formulas and Matthew 1’s genealogical formula	Low. French “engendra” (formal register, matches genealogical formula style) is standard.
Perez פֶּרֶץ Perets Proper name, “breach, breakthrough”	Judah’s son by Tamar (Gen 38) — another story involving levirate-marriage irregularity and a Gentile/outsider-adjacent woman ”Perez”	4:12, 18 — the town elders explicitly bless Boaz’s line “like the house of Perez,” deliberately linking Ruth’s story to Tamar’s, both women outside the ordinary covenant-insider category who become essential links in the Messianic line	Medium. Proper name retained as “Pérets/Pharès” (note: French tradition often uses the Greek-derived “Pharès,” matching Matthew 1:3’s Greek Φαρές) — flag for reviewers which form aligns with this curriculum’s Matthew rendering, for cross-document consistency.
David דָּוִד David Proper name	[BASELINE — REUSE EXACTLY: David] “David”	4:17, 22 — the book’s final word is the name toward which the entire narrative has been building; canonically anticipates “seed_of_david” and, ultimately, Christ	Low in itself (stable proper name), but Critical in its doctrinal payload: this is the narrative fulfillment that the baseline’s “seed_of_david” entry (Medium risk, Romans 1:3) theologically depends on. Cross-reference required.

Chapter 4 note: No entirely new theological doctrine is introduced beyond what Chapters 1-3 have established (Hesed, Kinsman-Redeemer, Providence, Gentile Inclusion); rather, Chapter 4 is the legal and genealogical resolution of all four, plus the Genealogy doctrine’s decisive textual anchor. All terms above are treated as load-bearing because the risk is not new vocabulary but the legal-technical density and typological payload concentrated in this chapter.

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Cross-Book Theological Summary

Doctrine (per curriculum parameters)	Primary Hebrew Terms	Primary Chapters	Key French Rendering Decision
Hesed (Covenant Loving-kindness)	חֶסֶד (chesed)	1:8; 2:20; 3:10	”bonté fidèle” — new Critical-risk term, distinct from baseline “grâce”
The Kinsman-Redeemer	גֹּאֵל / גָּאַל (go’el/ga’al)	2:20; 3:9, 12-13; 4:1-14	”rédempteur” (qualified) — new Critical-risk term, typologically loaded
God’s Providence in Ordinary Life	פָּקַד (paqad); מִקְרֶה (miqreh)	1:6; 2:3, 12	”intervenir/visiter” and cautious handling of “hasard” — new High-risk terms; cross-reference baseline “providence”
The Inclusion of Gentiles	עַם (am); מוֹאָבִיָּה (Moabite); נָכְרִיָּה (nokriyah)	1:16; throughout	”peuple,” “Moabite,” “étrangère” — Critical/High risk, requires Deut 23:3 background note
Loyalty and Faithfulness	דָּבַק (davaq); חֶסֶד (chesed); שׁוּב (shuv, by contrast)	1:14, 16-17	”s’attacher à,” “bonté fidèle”
Genealogy Pointing to David and Christ	תּוֹלְדוֹת (toledot); יָלַד (yalad); שֵׁם (shem)	4:5, 10, 18-22	”généalogie,” “engendra” — High risk if taught as inert record rather than purposeful fulfillment