Ruth 1:10
in Ruth 1and said, “Surely we will return with you to your people.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And they said unto her, Nay, but we will return with thee unto thy people.
KJV
And they said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto thy people.
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This verse in Ruth 1
Commentary
3 notes on this verseAnd they said unto her,.... When they had eased themselves in cries and tears, and had recovered their speech: surely we will return with thee unto thy people; to be proselyted, as the Targum; not only to dwell with them, but to worship with them.
This site's exposition
Surely we will return with you to your people
on Ruth 1:10-13
Naomi argues from the levirate law of Deuteronomy 25:5, where a brother raises up offspring for the dead, and shows it cannot reach them, since there are no more sons. The argument is legally exact, and its aim is to release them. She lays the whole of it on God, "the hand of the LORD has gone out against me", and carries that reading until chapter 4.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
): " Surely we will return with thee unto thy people, and take our lot with thee." It is a rare instance of affection to a mother-in-law and an evidence that they had, for her sake, conceived a good opinion of the people of Israel.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
"Are there yet any more sons in my womb?" Many of our colleagues thought that this response was directed at those who deny (the custom), not realizing that our ancestors transmitted that levirate marriage (yibbum) applies to brothers from the father, not from the mother. She was simply saying to them, if I had sons in my womb, I would give them to you in place of the deceased.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַתֹּאמַ֖רְנָה־ | vatomarnah- | and they said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| לָּ֑הּ | lah | to <the> her | ||
| כִּי־ | ki- | that | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| אִתָּ֥ךְ | ʾitakh | with you | H854 → | 929 times |
| נָשׁ֖וּב | nashuv | we will return | H7725 → | 1056 times |
| לְעַמֵּֽךְ׃ | leamekh | to people your | H5971 → | 1873 times |
וַתֹּאמַ֖רְנָה־and they said
vatomarnah-H559 →5305 times
לָּ֑הּto <the> her
lah
כִּי־that
ki-H3588 →4482 times
אִתָּ֥ךְwith you
ʾitakhH854 →929 times
נָשׁ֖וּבwe will return
nashuvH7725 →1056 times
לְעַמֵּֽךְ׃to people your
leamekhH5971 →1873 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 119:63I am a friend to all who fear You, and to those who keep Your precepts.
it leads to
- Proverbs 13:20
He who walks with the wise will become wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 101:6
My eyes favor the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me; he who walks in the way of integrity shall minister to me.
- 1 John 1:3
We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And this fellowship of ours is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.
- Proverbs 13:20
Through
Zechariah 8:23This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “In those days ten men from the nations of every tongue will tightly grasp the robe of a Jew, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for…
it leads to
- Isaiah 55:5
Surely you will summon a nation you do not know, and nations who do not know you will run to you. For the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, has bestowed glory…
- 1 Corinthians 14:25
and the secrets of his heart will be made known. So he will fall facedown and worship God, proclaiming, “God is truly among you!”
- Isaiah 45:14
This is what the LORD says: “The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush, along with the Sabeans, men of stature, will come over to you and will be yours; they will trudge…
- Isaiah 60:3
Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
- Acts 13:47–48
For this is what the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”
- Isaiah 55:5
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies3
On this verse
On this chapter
About Ruth
This page draws on John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.