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Ruth 1

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Elimelech's Family Migrates to Moab 1–5

1
Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehemjudah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons. ​
2
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. ​
3
And Elimelech Naomi's husband died; and she was left, and her two sons.
4
And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years.
5
And Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them; and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband. ​

Naomi Urges Her Daughters-in-Law to Return 6–18

6
Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the LORD had visited his people in giving them bread. ​
7
Wherefore she went forth out of the place where she was, and her two daughters in law with her; and they went on the way to return unto the land of Judah.
8
And Naomi said unto her two daughters in law, Go, return each to her mother's house: the LORD deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and with me. ​
9
The LORD grant you that ye may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them; and they lifted up their voice, and wept. ​
10
And they said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto thy people.
11
And Naomi said, Turn again, my daughters: why will ye go with me? are there yet any more sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? ​
12
Turn again, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have an husband. If I should say, I have hope, if I should have an husband also to night, and should also bear sons;
13
Would ye tarry for them till they were grown? would ye stay for them from having husbands? nay, my daughters; for it grieveth me much for your sakes that the hand of the LORD is gone out against me. ​
14
And they lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpah kissed her mother in law; but Ruth clave unto her.
15
And she said, Behold, thy sister in law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister in law. ​
16
And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: ​
17
Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me. ​
18
When she saw that she was stedfastly minded to go with her, then she left speaking unto her.

Naomi and Ruth Arrive in Bethlehem 19–22

19
So they two went until they came to Bethlehem. And it came to pass, when they were come to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about them, and they said, Is this Naomi? ​
20
And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. ​
21
I went out full, and the LORD hath brought me home again empty: why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the LORD hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me? ​
22
So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter in law, with her, which returned out of the country of Moab: and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Ruth 1

Verse 1

a famine in the land — Bethlehem means ‘house of bread’ (Beth-lechem), yet the family leaves it for want of bread; in v.6 the LORD gives his people lechem. ‘Sojourn’ (gur) is to live as a guest or stranger, the word used of Abram’s going to Egypt in famine (Gen 12:10). It was the time when ‘every man did that which was right in his own eyes’ (Judg 21:25).

Verse 2

Ephrathites of Bethlehemjudah — Ephrath ‘is Bethlehem’ (Gen 35:19), and the prophet names it ‘Bethlehem Ephratah’ as the place from which Israel’s ruler comes (Mic 5:2). Jesse is likewise ‘that Ephrathite of Bethlehemjudah’ (1 Sam 17:12). The names Elimelech (‘God of the king’), Naomi (‘pleasant’), Mahlon (‘sick’) and Chilion are given in full.

Verse 5

the woman was left — Sha’ar, to be left over, a remnant. For her sons the Hebrew now uses yeled, ‘child’, where v.2 had the usual ben, ‘son’. Of the four who left Bethlehem (v.2), the husband and both sons have died, and ‘the woman’ alone remains, with her two daughters-in-law (v.4).

Verse 6

the LORD had visited his people — Paqad, to visit, the verb of God’s visit to Israel in Egypt: ‘I have surely visited you’ (Ex 3:16). The visit here is ‘in giving them bread’ (lechem), as the LORD promised Zion, ‘I will satisfy her poor with bread’ (Ps 132:15). The news reaches her in Moab.

Verse 8

deal kindly — Literally ‘do chesed’, loyal kindness. Naomi asks the LORD to repay the kindness shown ‘with the dead, and with me’. The pairing returns in 2:20, where she blesses the LORD who ‘hath not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead’. She sends each to her ‘mother’s house’.

Verse 9

find rest — Menuchah, rest: a settled home in ‘the house of her husband’. Naomi uses a related word at 3:1, ‘shall I not seek rest for thee, that it may be well with thee?’ The kiss that follows is Naomi’s; the two daughters-in-law then ‘lifted up their voice, and wept’.

Verse 11

are there yet any more sons in my womb — Deut 25:5 gave a childless widow to her husband’s brother. Naomi has no son to give, and Judah’s way of waiting for a younger son to grow (Gen 38:11) is not open to her. ‘Turn again’ (shuv) is the verb of the chapter, in ten of its verses: 6–8, 10–12, 15–16, 21–22.

Verse 13

the hand of the LORD is gone out against me — The language recalls Judg 2:15, ‘the hand of the LORD was against them for evil’. ‘Grieveth me much’ is marar with meod, ‘very bitter’, the same verb as ‘dealt very bitterly’ in v.20, where she asks to be called Mara.

Verse 15

unto her people, and unto her gods — ‘Gods’ is elohim in the plural, as with ‘Chemosh thy god’ in Judg 11:24, the god of Moab. ‘Sister in law’ (yebemeth) is the law’s word for a husband’s brother’s wife (Deut 25:7, 9). Naomi tells Ruth to ‘return thou after thy sister in law’.

Verse 16

whither thou goest, I will go — Lun, to lodge for the night. Ruth’s vow resembles Ittai’s to David, ‘in what place my lord the king shall be, whether in death or life, even there also will thy servant be’ (2 Sam 15:21), and Elisha’s to Elijah (2 Kings 2:2). She takes Naomi’s God as her own, ‘thy God my God’; Boaz later speaks of her trust under his wings (Ruth 2:12).

Verse 17

the LORD do so to me, and more also — An oath formula, spoken by Israelites in 1 Sam 3:17, 1 Sam 25:22 and 1 Kings 2:23, and here by a Moabitess in the LORD’s name. She adds ‘there will I be buried’ and says that only death (mavet) shall part her from Naomi.

Verse 19

all the city was moved about them — Hum, to stir with noise; the verb of ‘the city rang again’ in 1 Kings 1:45. The question ‘Is this Naomi?’ is asked of a woman who left Bethlehem with a husband and two sons (v.2). Matthew says of Jerusalem at Christ’s entry that ‘all the city was moved’ (Matt 21:10).

Verse 20

Call me not Naomi, call me Mara — Naomi means ‘pleasant’ and Mara ‘bitter’. ‘Almighty’ is Shadday, found in Ruth only here and in v.21; Job 6:4 speaks of ‘the arrows of the Almighty’ within him. She acknowledges the LORD’s hand and names him as the one who afflicted her.

Verse 21

I went out full, and the LORD hath brought me home again empty — ‘Empty’ is reyqam, which returns when Boaz sends Ruth home with barley: ‘Go not empty unto thy mother in law’ (3:17). Naomi’s words echo Job 1:21, ‘the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away’. In 4:15 the women call the child ‘a restorer of thy life’.

Verse 22

the beginning of barley harvest — Se’orah, barley. It ripens before wheat (Ex 9:31–32), and Ruth gleans ‘unto the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest’ (2:23). ‘Ruth the Moabitess’ is the title she carries at 2:2, 21 and 4:5, 10; she is named among Christ’s ancestors in Matt 1:5.