Ruthchapter 1
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Naomi and Her Daughters-in-Law — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
A.Famine, Moab, and three gravesvv. 1-5
1 In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. And a certain man from Bethlehem in Judah, with his wife and two sons, went to reside in the land of Moab. 2 The man’s name was Elimelech, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah, and they entered the land of Moab and settled there. 3 Then Naomi’s husband Elimelech died, and she was left with her two sons, 4 who took Moabite women as their wives, one named Orpah and the other named Ruth. And after they had lived in Moab about ten years, 5 both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and without her husband.
B.Whither thou goest, I will govv. 6-18
6 When Naomi heard in Moab that the LORD had attended to His people by providing them with food, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to leave the land of Moab. 7 Accompanied by her two daughters-in-law, she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road leading back to the land of Judah. 8 Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you to your mother’s home. May the LORD show you loving devotion, as you have shown to your dead and to me. 9 May the LORD enable each of you to find rest in the home of your new husband.” And she kissed them as they wept aloud 10 and said, “Surely we will return with you to your people.” 11 But Naomi replied, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you go with me? Are there still sons in my womb to become your husbands? 12 Return home, my daughters. Go on, for I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was hope for me to have a husband tonight and to bear sons, 13 would you wait for them to grow up? Would you refrain from having husbands? No, my daughters, it grieves me very much for your sakes that the hand of the LORD has gone out against me.” 14 Again they wept aloud, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her. 15 “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her gods; follow her back home.” 16 But Ruth replied: “Do not urge me to leave you or to turn from following you. For wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you live, I will live; your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. 17 Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD punish me, and ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.” 18 When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped trying to persuade her.
C.Call me not Naomi, call me Maravv. 19-22
19 So Naomi and Ruth traveled until they came to Bethlehem. When they entered Bethlehem, the whole city was stirred because of them, and the women of the city exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?” 20 “Do not call me Naomi,” she replied. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has dealt quite bitterly with me. 21 I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? After all, the LORD has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me.” 22 So Naomi returned from the land of Moab with her daughter-in-law Ruth the Moabitess. And they arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.
Chapter summary
In the days when the judges judged there is a famine in Bethlehem, the house of bread, and Elimelech takes Naomi and their two sons to the fields of Moab.
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Chapter summary
In the days when the judges judged there is a famine in Bethlehem, the house of bread, and Elimelech takes Naomi and their two sons to the fields of Moab.
Read the rest, the context and the outline ▾Show less ▴
In the days when the judges judged there is a famine in Bethlehem, the house of bread, and Elimelech takes Naomi and their two sons to the fields of Moab. Ten years later the husband and both sons are dead. Hearing that Jehovah has visited his people in giving them bread, Naomi turns homeward and urges her daughters-in-law back to their mothers' houses; Orpah kisses her and goes, but Ruth cleaves with the vow that has outlived every other line in the book: 'whither thou goest, I will go… thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God' (1:16). Naomi arrives asking to be called Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with her, at the beginning of barley harvest.
Drawn from Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory, Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary and John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament.
Context
History · Samuel — Ruth overview
- A. 1–5 Famine, Moab, and three graves
- B. 6–18 Whither thou goest, I will go
- C. 19–22 Call me not Naomi, call me Mara
Top cross-references8 chapters ▾
Ruth 13 verses
- Ruth 1:5both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and without her husband.
- Ruth 1:10and said, “Surely we will return with you to your people.”
- Ruth 1:14Again they wept aloud, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.
- Read Ruth 1 →
Ruth 23 verses
- Ruth 2:11Boaz replied, “I have been made fully aware of all you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, how you left your father and mother and the land of your birth, and how you came to a people you did not know before.
- Ruth 2:20Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by the LORD, who has not withdrawn His kindness from the living or the dead.” Naomi continued, “The man is a close relative. He is one of our kinsman-redeemers.”
- Ruth 2:23So Ruth stayed close to the servant girls of Boaz to glean grain until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.
- Read Ruth 2 →
Hebrews 122 verses
- Hebrews 12:10Our fathers disciplined us for a short time as they thought best, but God disciplines us for our good, so that we may share in His holiness.
- Hebrews 12:11No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields a harvest of righteousness and peace to those who have been trained by it.
- Read Hebrews 12 →
Genesis 121 verse
- Genesis 12:10Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.
- Read Genesis 12 →
4 more chapters this one speaks with
Genesis 261 verse
- Genesis 26:1Now there was another famine in the land, subsequent to the one that had occurred in Abraham’s time. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines at Gerar.
- Read Genesis 26 →
Ezekiel 141 verse
- Ezekiel 14:13“Son of man, if a land sins against Me by acting unfaithfully, and I stretch out My hand against it to cut off its supply of food, to send famine upon it, and to cut off from it both man and beast,
- Read Ezekiel 14 →
Genesis 351 verse
- Genesis 35:19So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).
- Read Genesis 35 →
1 Samuel 171 verse
- 1 Samuel 17:21And Israel and the Philistines arrayed in formation against each other.
- Read 1 Samuel 17 →
Cross-references from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and OpenBible.info.