Editing Book of Ruth (section)

==Oldest surviving manuscripts==
[[File:Damascus Keter, Bible. Manuscript on parchment. Burgos, Spain, 1260. End of the book of Ruth.jpg|thumb|250px|End of the book of Ruth in Damascus Keter, Bible. Manuscript on parchment. Burgos, Spain, 1260.]]
Surviving manuscripts date from hundreds or thousands of years after initial authorship. The oldest [[Biblical Hebrew|Hebrew]] manuscripts include the [[Aleppo Codex]] (10th century) and [[Leningrad Codex|Codex Leningradensis]] (1008).{{sfn|Würthwein|1995|pp=36-37}} Some fragments containing parts of this book were found among the [[Dead Sea Scrolls]], i.e., [[List of manuscripts from Qumran Cave 4#4Q101-4Q200|4Q104]] (~50 BCE),<ref name=thewaytoyahuweh>[https://thewaytoyahuweh.com/dead-sea-scrolls/general-info/#ruth Dead sea scrolls - Ruth]</ref>{{sfn|Ulrich|2010|p=[https://archive.org/details/TheBiblicalQumranScrolls/page/n751 735]}}<ref name=Fitzmyer>{{Cite book|title = A Guide to the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature|last = Fitzmyer|first = Joseph A.| authorlink = Joseph Fitzmyer | publisher = William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=TILXeWJ2eNAC | year = 2008 | pages = 42 |isbn = 9780802862419 | location = Grand Rapids, MI | access-date= February 15, 2019}}</ref> 4Q105 (30 BCE – 68 CE),<ref name=thewaytoyahuweh/>{{sfn|Fitzmyer|2008|p=42}}{{sfn|Ulrich|2010|p=736}} [[List of manuscripts from Qumran Cave 2|2Q16]] (~50 CE),<ref name=thewaytoyahuweh />{{sfn|Ulrich|2010|pp=[https://archive.org/details/TheBiblicalQumranScrolls/page/n752 736]–738}}<ref name=Fitzmyer /> and 2Q17 (~50 BCE), with only slight variations from the [[Masoretic Text]].{{sfn|Emmerson|2007|p=192}}

A large letter [[Nun (letter)|<big>נ</big>]], a ''majuscula'', occurs in the first word of {{bibleverse|Ruth|3:13|HE}} - לִינִי ({{Strong-number|''lî-nî''|H|03885}}; "tarry, stay, lodge, pass the night") - which the smaller Masora ascribes to the Oriental or Babylonian textualists.<ref name=pulpit>Joseph S. Exell; Henry Donald Maurice Spence-Jones (Editors). The [[Pulpit Commentary]]. 23 volumes. First publication: 1890.{{PD-notice}}</ref><ref name=specialletters>[https://www.win.tue.nl/~aeb/natlang/hebrew/hebrew_bible.html Special letters in the Hebrew Bible]</ref>

There is also a translation into [[Koine Greek]] known as the [[Septuagint]], made in the last few centuries BC. Extant ancient manuscripts of the [[Septuagint]] version include [[Codex Vaticanus]] (4th century), [[Codex Alexandrinus]] (5th century).{{sfn|Würthwein|1995|pp=73-74}} The whole book of Ruth is missing from the extant [[Codex Sinaiticus]].<ref>{{cite book| last= Shepherd|first= Michael |title= A Commentary on the Book of the Twelve: The Minor Prophets | series= Kregel Exegetical Library | publisher= Kregel Academic | year= 2018 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=_iNZDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA13|isbn= 978-0825444593 | page= 13}}</ref>