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Ruth 4:17

in Ruth 4

The neighbor women said, “A son has been born to Naomi,” and they named him Obed. He became the father of Jesse, the father of David.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And the women her neighbors gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

KJV

And the women her neighbours gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

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This verse in Ruth 4

Commentary

8 notes on this verse
And the women her neighbours gave it a name,.... Josephus says (q) Naomi gave it, by the advice of her neighbours; very probably on the eighth day when he was circumcised, and the neighbours were invited on that occasion, at which time it seems it was usual to give names to children, see Luk 1:

This site's exposition

And Naomi took the child

on Ruth 4:16-17

The neighbor women name the child and neither parent is recorded doing it, and John Gill cites Josephus making Naomi the namer on their advice. "A son has been born to Naomi" is said of Mahlon's legal heir and Boaz's son, and it closes the account of her losses.

This site's exposition

they named him Obed

Adam Clarke gives Obed as serving, a name that fits the child who will sustain Naomi in her old age. John Gill thinks the naming took place at the circumcision on the eighth day, as with John at Luke 1:59. The verse then reaches two generations on to David.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Ephrem the Syrian

HYMNS ON THE NATIVITY 9.12-16 · Written before 373.

proposed

Let Tamar rejoice that her Lord has come, for her name announced the son of her Lord, and her appellation called you to come to her.By you honorable women made themselves contemptible, [you] the One who makes all chaste. She stole you at the crossroads, …

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

proposed

A name - That is, they gave her advice about his name; for otherwise they had no power or right to do so. Obed - A servant, to thee, to nourish, and comfort, and assist thee; which duty children owe to their progenitors.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

The good women would have it called Obed, a servant, either in remembrance of the meanness and poverty of the mother or in prospect of his being hereafter a servant, and very serviceable, to his grandmother. It is no dishonour to those that are ever so well born to be servants to God, their friends, and their generation. The motto of the princes of Wales is Ich dien--I serve.

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

The neighbors gave it a name - That is, they recommended a name suitable to the circumstances of the case; and the parents and grandmother adopted it. They called his name Obed - עובד obed, serving, from עבד abad, he served. Why was this name given? Because he was to be the nourisher of her old age, Rth 4:15. And so he must be by lying in her bosom, even if services in future life were wholly left out of the question. These neighbors of Naomi were skillful people. See on Rth 4:16 (note).
Obed - i. e. serving, with allusion to the service of love and duty which he would render to his grandmother Naomi.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

"And she nourished." It means to care for and sustain, as in the phrase "And Joseph nourished his father." Some also interpret it as "to provide," as in "And who will provide for the day of his coming."
Ibn Ezra: Spain, 1089–1167 · Ibn Ezra on Ruth 4:16:1, via Sefaria, Sefaria Community Translation

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. 2 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

16 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • וַתִּקְרֶאנָה֩and they called

    vatikrenahH7121 →733 times

  • ל֨וֹ<to> <the> him

    lo

  • הַשְּׁכֵנ֥וֹתthe [female] neighbors

    hashekhenotH7934 →

  • שֵׁם֙a name

    shemH8034 →864 times

  • לֵאמֹ֔ר<to> saying

    lemorH559 →5305 times

  • יֻלַּד־he has been born

    yulad-H3205 →496 times

  • בֵּ֖ןa son

    benH1121 →4930 times

  • לְנָעֳמִ֑יto Naomi

    lenoomiH5281 →21 times

  • וַתִּקְרֶ֤אנָֽהand they called

    vatikrenahH7121 →733 times

  • שְׁמוֹ֙name his

    shemoH8034 →864 times

  • עוֹבֵ֔דObed

    ovedH5744 →10 times

  • ה֥וּאhe

    hu'H1931 →1879 times

  • אֲבִי־[was] [the] father of

    ʾavi-H1 →1212 times

  • יִשַׁ֖יJesse

    yishaiH3448 →42 times

  • אֲבִ֥י[the] father of

    ʾaviH1 →1212 times

  • דָוִֽד׃ פDavid

    davidH1732 →

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

4 in all, six open

Where this verse is studied

About Ruth

Summer, or Ruth and Boaz, Nicolas Poussin, 1660 to 1664. Public domain.
Summer, or Ruth and Boaz, Nicolas Poussin, 1660 to 1664. Public domain.
Ruth: the study guide →Read Ruth 4 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ephrem the Syrian, HYMNS ON THE NATIVITY 9.12-16; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Ruth 4 →