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Text -- Ruth 1:1-18 (NET)
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Strongs On/Off
Context
A Family Tragedy: Famine and Death
1:1 During the time of the judges there was a famine in the land of Judah. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah went to live as a resident foreigner in the region of Moab , along with his wife and two sons .
1:2 (Now the man’s name was Elimelech , his wife was Naomi , and his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion . They were of the clan of Ephrath from Bethlehem in Judah .) They entered the region of Moab and settled there .
1:3 Sometime later Naomi’s husband Elimelech died , so she and her two sons were left alone.
1:4 So her sons married Moabite women . (One was named Orpah and the other Ruth .) And they continued to live there about ten years .
1:5 Then Naomi’s two sons, Mahlon and Kilion , also died . So the woman was left all alone– bereaved of her two children as well as her husband !
1:6 So she decided to return home from the region of Moab , accompanied by her daughters-in-law , because while she was living in Moab she had heard that the Lord had shown concern for his people , reversing the famine by providing abundant crops .
Ruth Returns with Naomi
1:7 Now as she and her two daughters-in-law began to leave the place where she had been living to return to the land of Judah ,
1:8 Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law , “Listen to me! Each of you should return to your mother’s home ! May the Lord show you the same kind of devotion that you have shown to your deceased husbands and to me!
1:9 May the Lord enable each of you to find security in the home of a new husband !” Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept loudly .
1:10 But they said to her, “No! We will return with you to your people .”
1:11 But Naomi replied , “Go back home, my daughters ! There is no reason for you to return to Judah with me! I am no longer capable of giving birth to sons who might become your husbands !
1:12 Go back home , my daughters ! For I am too old to get married again. Even if I thought that there was hope that I could get married tonight and conceive sons ,
1:13 surely you would not want to wait until they were old enough to marry! Surely you would not remain unmarried all that time! No, my daughters , you must not return with me. For my intense suffering is too much for you to bear . For the Lord is afflicting me!”
1:14 Again they wept loudly . Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung tightly to her.
1:15 So Naomi said , “Look , your sister-in-law is returning to her people and to her god . Follow your sister-in-law back home !”
1:16 But Ruth replied , “Stop urging me to abandon you! For wherever you go , I will go . Wherever you live , I will live . Your people will become my people , and your God will become my God .
1:17 Wherever you die , I will die – and there I will be buried . May the Lord punish me severely if I do not keep my promise! Only death will be able to separate me from you!”
1:18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped trying to dissuade her.
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Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics
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Names, People and Places:
Dictionary Themes and Topics:
Naomi |
Love |
Readings, Select |
Ruth |
Widow |
Women |
Elimelech |
Daughter-in-Law |
Mahlon |
Kiss |
MOAB |
Chilion |
WOMAN |
Children |
CHILLON |
Orpah |
Mother-in-Law |
FRIEND; FRIENDSHIP |
Oath |
HUSBAND'S BROTHER |
more
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expand allCommentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes
NET Notes -> Rut 1:1; Rut 1:1; Rut 1:1; Rut 1:1; Rut 1:1; Rut 1:1; Rut 1:1; Rut 1:1; Rut 1:2; Rut 1:2; Rut 1:2; Rut 1:2; Rut 1:2; Rut 1:2; Rut 1:2; Rut 1:3; Rut 1:4; Rut 1:4; Rut 1:4; Rut 1:4; Rut 1:5; Rut 1:5; Rut 1:6; Rut 1:6; Rut 1:6; Rut 1:6; Rut 1:7; Rut 1:8; Rut 1:8; Rut 1:8; Rut 1:8; Rut 1:8; Rut 1:9; Rut 1:9; Rut 1:9; Rut 1:9; Rut 1:10; Rut 1:10; Rut 1:11; Rut 1:11; Rut 1:12; Rut 1:12; Rut 1:13; Rut 1:13; Rut 1:13; Rut 1:13; Rut 1:13; Rut 1:13; Rut 1:13; Rut 1:14; Rut 1:14; Rut 1:14; Rut 1:14; Rut 1:14; Rut 1:15; Rut 1:15; Rut 1:16; Rut 1:17; Rut 1:17; Rut 1:17; Rut 1:18; Rut 1:18; Rut 1:18
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NET Notes: Rut 1:2 Heb “and were there”; KJV “continued there”; NRSV “remained there”; TEV “were living there.”
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NET Notes: Rut 1:3 Heb “And Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died.” The vav (ו) functions in a consecutive sense (“then”), but the time-fra...
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NET Notes: Rut 1:6 Heb “by giving to them food.” The translation “reversing the famine and providing abundant crops” attempts to clarify the refe...
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NET Notes: Rut 1:7 Heb “and she went out from the place she had been, and her two daughters-in-law with her, and they went on the way to return to the land of Juda...
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NET Notes: Rut 1:8 Heb “devotion as you have done with the dead and with me.” The noun חֶסֶד (khesed, “devotion”) i...
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NET Notes: Rut 1:9 Heb “they lifted their voice[s] and wept” (KJV, ASV, NASB all similar). This refers to loud weeping characteristic of those mourning a tra...
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NET Notes: Rut 1:10 Or perhaps “we want to” (so NCV, CEV, NLT), if the imperfect is understood in a modal sense indicating desire.
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NET Notes: Rut 1:11 Heb “Do I still have sons in my inner parts that they might become your husbands?” Again Naomi’s rhetorical question expects a negat...
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NET Notes: Rut 1:12 Verse 12b contains the protasis (“if” clause) of a conditional sentence, which is completed by the rhetorical questions in v. 13. For a de...
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NET Notes: Rut 1:13 Heb “for the hand of the Lord has gone out against me” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NIV all similar). The expression suggests opposition and hostility...
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NET Notes: Rut 1:14 Clung tightly. The expression suggests strong commitment (see R. L. Hubbard, Jr., Ruth [NICOT], 115).
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NET Notes: Rut 1:15 Or “gods” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, CEV, NLT), if the plural form is taken as a numerical plural. However, it is likely that Naomi, speaki...
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NET Notes: Rut 1:16 Heb “do not urge me to abandon you to turn back from after you.” Most English versions, following the lead of the KJV, use “leave...
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NET Notes: Rut 1:17 Ruth’s devotion to Naomi is especially apparent here. Instead of receiving a sure blessing and going home (see v. 8), Ruth instead takes on a se...
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