Psalm 1:2

כִּ֤י אִ֥ם בְּתוֹרַ֥ת יְהוָ֗ה חֶ֫פְצ֥וֹ וּֽבְתוֹרָת֥וֹ יֶהְגֶּ֗ה יוֹמָ֥ם וָלָֽיְלָה׃

Translation: But in the law of the Lord is his delight and in the law of the Lord he meditates day and night.

(כִּ֤י אִ֥ם) following a negative clause is a strong adversative, like Greek (ἀλλά), which the Septuagint uses here. The blessed man delights in the law of the Lord. In vs 1, the man does not follow the wicked due to the fact that he is blessed. Here, the man delights in the law of the Lord because he is blessed (see, for example, John 4:32). Anyone who has ever tried to delight in the law of the Lord in order to obtain blessing has discovered what a fruitless exercise it is. The reader should note as well that “law,” while a traditional rendering of (תּוֹרָה), is too narrow. The larger sense of the word is “instruction.” BDB suggests that the use here may refer to the Deuteronomic code, but I think that is unlikely.

(הָגָה) is a poetic word, i.e., it is used only in poetic material. It has the sense of mutter or groan. So the idea here is the conscious meditation on material, perhaps like the half-silent repetition of material to oneself, when one is working on memorizing said material.

( יוֹמָ֥ם וָלָֽיְלָה) is a merismus, the use of two extremes to indicate the whole. So it could be paraphrased “all the time.” It is a shame that most Christians spend so little time meditating on the Word of God.

Ruth 1:2

וְשֵׁ֣ם הָאִ֣ישׁ אֱֽלִימֶ֡לֶךְ וְשֵׁם֩ אִשְׁתּ֙וֹ נָעֳמִ֜י וְשֵׁ֥ם שְׁנֵֽי־בָנָ֣יו׀ מַחְל֤וֹן וְכִלְיוֹן֙ אֶפְרָתִ֔ים מִבֵּ֥ית לֶ֖חֶם יְהוּדָ֑ה וַיָּבֹ֥אוּ שְׂדֵי־מוֹאָ֖ב וַיִּֽהְיוּ־שָֽׁם׃

Translation: Now the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion: Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah, and they came to the fields of Moab, and they remained there.

Notice that the verse begins with vav + noun. This is an indicator that we now have an explanatory comment off the main line of the narrative (the main line of the narrative being carried by the vav-consecutive + imperfect). The narrative then picks up again with (וַיָּבֹ֥אוּ). This explanatory comment gives us the names and place of origin of these people. Some commentators want to make something out of the names, noting, for example, that “Elimelech” means “my God is king.” However, the etymology and thus the meanings of the names of Mahlon and Chilion are uncertain, and the only name that is given particular attention is “Naomi,” and that is later in the narrative. At this point in the story, the author has simply identified the characters for us.

The use of (וַיִּֽהְיוּ) may seem unusual for the beginning student, but see BDB III.3 for the use of (הָיָה) for remaining in a place.

The main line of the narrative so far tells us that in the time of the judges, there was a famine in Israel. A certain man from Bethlehem sets off to Moab, arrives there, and settles there. Additional explanatory information tells us that the man did not go alone, but rather took his wife and sons, who are then named.

Psalm 1:1

אַ֥שְֽׁרֵי־הָאִ֗ישׁ אֲשֶׁ֤ר׀ לֹ֥א הָלַךְ֮ בַּעֲצַ֪ת רְשָׁ֫עִ֥ים וּבְדֶ֣רֶךְ חַ֭טָּאִים לֹ֥א עָמָ֑ד וּבְמוֹשַׁ֥ב לֵ֜צִ֗ים לֹ֣א יָשָֽׁב׃

Translation: O the blessedness of the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, and in the way of sinners he does not stand, and in the seat of scoffers he does not sit.

There are three things particular to note here. First is the use of the perfect form of the verb in the three verbal clauses. This is a difficulty for many beginning students, because they ordinarily translate the perfect as a past tense. However, there are a number of different uses of the perfect, and not all of them are appropriately translated by the English past tense. The use here is described by Gesenius (GKC ¶106k) as using the perfect “to express facts which have formerly taken place, and are still of constant recurrence, and hence are matters of common experience." Williams (¶168) classifies it as an experience perfect. Van der Merwe, et al. (¶19.2.4) describes such a perfect as indicating “actions, events and/or facts that are not time-bound.” Hence, the Septuagint translates these verbs with the gnomic aorist, and the English versions regularly translate them with an English present tense.

The second item of note here is the use of (הָאִ֗ישׁ), “the man” in the older English versions, (ἀνήρ) in the Septuagint. Both the Hebrew and the Greek word can be used in the sense of “person,” (reflected, for example in the NLT and other modern versions by pronouns in order to avoid gender-specific references). However, the use of the word here seems to me to indicate that we ought to take it in the sense of male person as opposed to female person, since there is an overtone of messianic allusion here. Christ is the perfectly blessed man, in whom and with whom we participate in the blessedness of a life not characterized by wickedness.

The third item of note is that the blessedness is not a blessing earned by behavior, but rather the blessedness results in the godly behavior. 

Notes on Ruth—1:1

WTT Ruth 1:1 וַיְהִ֗י בִּימֵי֙ שְׁפֹ֣ט הַשֹּׁפְטִ֔ים וַיְהִ֥י רָעָ֖ב בָּאָ֑רֶץ וַיֵּ֙לֶךְ אִ֜ישׁ מִבֵּ֧ית לֶ֣חֶם יְהוּדָ֗ה לָגוּר֙ בִּשְׂדֵ֣י מוֹאָ֔ב ה֥וּא וְאִשְׁתּ֖וֹ וּשְׁנֵ֥י בָנָֽיו׃

Translation: And it happened in the days of the judging of the judges that there was a famine in the land. And a man from Bethlehem of Judah went to sojourn in the fields of Moab: he, and his wife, and his two sons.

Ruth is one of several books (the others being Joshua, Judges, 1 Samuel, Ezekiel, and Esther) beginning with (וַיְהִ֗י). Except for 1 Samuel, they all begin with a temporal clause, connecting the following events to a particular time. Here, the use of (וַיְהִ֗י) is doubled, indicating not only the time of the judges, but the time of a particular famine during that period.

(בִּימֵי֙ שְׁפֹ֣ט הַשֹּׁפְטִ֔ים) lit. “in the days of the judging of the judges.” The proposition + the infinitive + the [participial] noun is a standard construction for a temporal clause. Thus: “when the judges judged.”

(בִּשְׂדֵ֣י מוֹאָ֔ב) refers to the land of Moab. The phrase is used throughout Ruth and a couple of times in 1 Chronicles. Outside of those places it is usually (  אֶ֣רֶץ מוֹאָ֑ב).

(גוּר֙) usually has the sense of staying temporarily, even though the stay may be somewhat extended from our point of view.

“In the days of the judges” is intended to bring the reader to recall the generally dissolute practices of Israel during that period. Following both Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28, the famine was an indicator of divine judgment. Thus the man (named in the next verse) takes his family, attempting to escape the judgment of God.