Ruth 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.
the judges
Judges 2:16 Nevertheless the LORD raised up judges, which delivered them out …
Judges 12:8 And after him Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel.
ruled [heb] judged
a famine
Genesis 12:10 And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt …
Genesis 26:1 And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that …
Genesis 43:1 And the famine was sore in the land.
Leviticus 26:19 And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven …
Deuteronomy 28:23,24,38 And your heaven that is over your head shall be brass, and the earth …
2 Samuel 21:1 Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after …
1 Kings 17:1-12 And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said …
1 Kings 18:2 And Elijah went to show himself to Ahab. And there was a sore famine in Samaria.
2 Kings 8:1,2 Then spoke Elisha to the woman, whose son he had restored to life, …
Psalm 105:16 Moreover he called for a famine on the land: he broke the whole staff of bread.
Psalm 107:34 A fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein.
Jeremiah 14:1 The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the dearth.
Ezekiel 14:13,21 Son of man, when the land sins against me by trespassing grievously, …
Joel 1:10,11,16-20 The field is wasted, the land mourns; for the corn is wasted: the …
Amos 4:6 And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, …
Beth-lehem-Judah
Judges 17:8 And the man departed out of the city from Bethlehemjudah to sojourn …
Judges 19:1,2 And it came to pass in those days, when there was no king in Israel…
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.
Elimelech The Rabbins say that Elimelech was the son of Salmon, who married Rahab; and that Naomi was his niece.
Naomi
Ruth 1:1 Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there …
Mahlon It is imagined, and not without probability, that Mahlon and Chilion are the same with Joash and Saraph, mentioned in
1 Chronicles 4:22 And Jokim, and the men of Chozeba, and Joash, and Saraph, who had …
Ephrathites
Genesis 35:19 And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem.
1 Samuel 1:1 Now there was a certain man of Ramathaimzophim, of mount Ephraim, …
1 Samuel 17:12 Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehemjudah, whose …
Micah 5:2 But you, Bethlehem Ephratah, though you be little among the thousands …
continued [heb] were
And Elimelech Naomi's husband died; and she was left, and her two sons.
and she was
2 Kings 4:1 Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets …
Psalm 34:19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivers …
Hebrews 12:6,10,11 For whom the Lord loves he chastens, and whips every son whom he receives…
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.
they took The Targum says, `they transgressed the decree of the Lord, and took to them strange women.'
wives
Deuteronomy 7:3 Neither shall you make marriages with them; your daughter you shall …
Deuteronomy 23:3 An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD…
1 Kings 11:1,2 But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter …
Matthew 1:5 And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and …
And Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them; and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband.
A.M.
Deuteronomy 32:29 O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would …
Psalm 89:30-32 If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments…
Jeremiah 2:19 Your own wickedness shall correct you, and your backslidings shall …
died The Targum adds, `And because they transgressed the decree of the word of the Lord, and joined affinity with strange people, therefore their days were cut off.'
and the woman
Isaiah 49:21 Then shall you say in your heart, Who has begotten me these, seeing …
Matthew 22:25-27 Now there were with us seven brothers: and the first, when he had …
Luke 7:12 Now when he came near to the gate of the city, behold, there was …
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.
visited
Genesis 21:1 And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did to Sarah …
Genesis 50:25 And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will …
Exodus 3:16 Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them, The …
Exodus 4:31 And the people believed: and when they heard that the LORD had visited …
1 Samuel 2:21 And the LORD visited Hannah, so that she conceived, and bore three …
Luke 1:68 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he has visited and redeemed his people,
Luke 19:44 And shall lay you even with the ground, and your children within …
1 Peter 2:12 Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas …
in giving
Genesis 28:20 And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep …
Genesis 48:15 And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham …
Exodus 16:4-6 Then said the LORD to Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you…
Psalm 104:14,15 He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service …
Psalm 111:5 He has given meat to them that fear him: he will ever be mindful …
Psalm 132:15 I will abundantly bless her provision: I will satisfy her poor with bread.
Psalm 145:15 The eyes of all wait on you; and you give them their meat in due season.
Psalm 146:7 Which executes judgment for the oppressed: which gives food to the …
Proverbs 30:8 Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; …
Isaiah 55:10 For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and returns …
Matthew 6:11 Give us this day our daily bread.
1 Timothy 6:8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.
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.
she went
2 Kings 8:3 And it came to pass at the seven years' end, that the woman returned …
they went
Ruth 1:10,14 And they said to her, Surely we will return with you to your people…
Exodus 18:27 And Moses let his father in law depart; and he went his way into his own land.
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.
Go
Joshua 24:15 And if it seem evil to you to serve the LORD, choose you this day …
Luke 14:25 And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said to them,
the Lord
Philippians 4:18,19 But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus …
2 Timothy 1:16-18 The Lord give mercy to the house of Onesiphorus; for he oft refreshed …
the dead
Ruth 1:5 And Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them; and the woman was …
Ruth 2:20 And Naomi said to her daughter in law, Blessed be he of the LORD, …
Ephesians 5:22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
Ephesians 6:2,3 Honor your father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise…
Colossians 3:18,24 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord…
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.
rest
Ruth 3:1 Then Naomi her mother in law said to her, My daughter, shall I not …
she kissed
Genesis 27:27 And he came near, and kissed him: and he smelled the smell of his …
Genesis 29:11 And Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept.
Genesis 45:15 Moreover he kissed all his brothers, and wept on them: and after …
Acts 20:37 And they all wept sore, and fell on Paul's neck, and kissed him,
And they said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto thy people.
Surely
Psalm 16:3 But to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in …
Psalm 119:63 I am a companion of all them that fear you, and of them that keep your precepts.
Zechariah 8:23 Thus said the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, …
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?
are there This alludes to the custom that when a married brother died, without leaving posterity, his brother should take his widow; and the children of such marriages were accounted those of the deceased brother. This address of Naomi to her daughter-in-law is exceedingly tender, persuasive, and affecting.
that they
Genesis 38:11 Then said Judah to Tamar his daughter in law, Remain a widow at your …
Deuteronomy 25:5 If brothers dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, …
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;
too old
Genesis 17:17 Then Abraham fell on his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, …
1 Timothy 5:9 Let not a widow be taken into the number under three score years …
I should have. or, I were with
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.
tarry [heb] hope
it grieveth me much [heb] I have much bitterness
the hand
Deuteronomy 2:15 For indeed the hand of the LORD was against them, to destroy them …
Judges 2:15 Wherever they went out, the hand of the LORD was against them for …
1 Samuel 5:11 So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, …
Job 19:21 Have pity on me, have pity on me, O you my friends; for the hand …
Psalm 32:4 For day and night your hand was heavy on me: my moisture is turned …
Psalm 38:2 For your arrows stick fast in me, and your hand presses me sore.
Psalm 39:9,10 I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because you did it…
And they lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpah kissed her mother in law; but Ruth clave unto her.
Orpah
Genesis 31:28,55 And have not suffered me to kiss my sons and my daughters? you have …
1 Kings 19:20 And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray …
Matthew 10:37 He that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: …
Matthew 19:22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: …
2 Timothy 4:10 For Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is …
but Ruth the LXX. add, (), `and returned to her own people.' The Vulgate Syriac, and Arabic, are to the same purpose. It seems a very natural addition, and agrees with the assertion in the next verse; and is accordingly adopted by Houbignant as a part of the text.
Deuteronomy 4:4 But you that did join to the LORD your God are alive every one of you this day.
Deuteronomy 10:20 You shall fear the LORD your God; him shall you serve, and to him …
Proverbs 17:17 A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.
Proverbs 18:24 A man that has friends must show himself friendly: and there is a …
Isaiah 14:1 For the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, …
Zechariah 8:23 Thus said the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, …
Matthew 16:24 Then said Jesus to his disciples, If any man will come after me, …
John 6:66-69 From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him…
Acts 17:34 However, certain men joined to him, and believed: among the which …
Hebrews 10:39 But we are not of them who draw back to perdition; but of them that …
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.
gone back
Psalm 36:3 The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit: he has left off to …
Psalm 125:5 As for such as turn aside to their crooked ways, the LORD shall lead …
Zephaniah 1:6 And them that are turned back from the LORD; and those that have …
Matthew 13:20,21 But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that …
Hebrews 10:38 Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul …
1 John 2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been …
and unto They were probably both idolaters at this time. That they were proselytes is an unfounded conjecture; and the conversion of Ruth now only commenced.
her gods
Judges 11:24 Will not you possess that which Chemosh your god gives you to possess? …
return
Joshua 24:15,19 And if it seem evil to you to serve the LORD, choose you this day …
2 Samuel 15:19,20 Then said the king to Ittai the Gittite, Why go you also with us? …
2 Kings 2:2 And Elijah said to Elisha, Tarry here, I pray you; for the LORD has …
Luke 14:26-33 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, …
Luke 24:28 And they drew near to the village, where they went: and he made as …
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:
Ruth A more perfect surrender of friendly feelings to a friend was never made. This was a most extraordinary and disinterested attachment.
Intreat me not. or, Be not against me.
to leave
2 Kings 2:2-6 And Elijah said to Elisha, Tarry here, I pray you; for the LORD has …
Luke 24:28,29 And they drew near to the village, where they went: and he made as …
Acts 21:13 Then Paul answered, What mean you to weep and to break my heart? …
whither
2 Samuel 15:21 And Ittai answered the king, and said, As the LORD lives, and as …
Matthew 8:19 And a certain scribe came, and said to him, Master, I will follow …
John 13:37 Peter said to him, Lord, why cannot I follow you now? I will lay …
Revelation 14:4 These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. …
thy people
Ruth 2:11,12 And Boaz answered and said to her, It has fully been showed me…
Psalm 45:10 Listen, O daughter, and consider, and incline your ear; forget also …
Isaiah 14:1 For the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, …
thy God
Joshua 24:18 And the LORD drove out from before us all the people, even the Amorites …
Daniel 2:47 The king answered to Daniel, and said, Of a truth it is, that your …
Daniel 3:29 Therefore I make a decree, That every people, nation, and language, …
Daniel 4:37 Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, …
Hosea 13:4 Yet I am the LORD your God from the land of Egypt, and you shall …
2 Corinthians 6:16-18 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? for you are …
1 Thessalonians 1:9 For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had to you…
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.
the lord
1 Samuel 3:17 And he said, What is the thing that the LORD has said to you? I pray …
1 Samuel 25:22 So and more also do God to the enemies of David…
2 Samuel 3:9,35 So do God to Abner, and more also, except, as the LORD has sworn …
2 Samuel 19:13 And say you to Amasa, Are you not of my bone, and of my flesh? God …
1 Kings 2:23 Then king Solomon swore by the LORD, saying, God do so to me, and more also…
1 Kings 19:2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, So let the gods …
1 Kings 20:10 And Benhadad sent to him, and said, The gods do so to me, and more also…
2 Kings 6:31 Then he said, God do so and more also to me, if the head of Elisha …
but death
Acts 11:23 Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted …
Acts 20:24 But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear to …
When she saw that she was stedfastly minded to go with her, then she left speaking unto her.
When
Acts 21:14 And when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, The will of …
was steadfastly minded [heb] strengthened herself
Acts 2:42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, …
Ephesians 6:10 Finally, my brothers, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
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?
all the city From this it would appear that Naomi was not only well known, but also highly respected at Beth-lehem: a proof that Elimelech was of high consideration at that place.
Matthew 21:10 And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, …
Is this Naomi?
Isaiah 23:7 Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days? her …
Lamentations 2:15 All that pass by clap their hands at you; they hiss and wag their …
And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.
Naomi. that is, Pleasant
Mara. that is, Bitter
the Almighty
Genesis 17:1 And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to …
Genesis 43:14 And God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may send …
Job 5:17 Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects: therefore despise not …
Job 11:7 Can you by searching find out God? can you find out the Almighty to perfection?
Revelation 1:8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, said the Lord, …
Revelation 21:22 And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb …
dealt
Job 6:4 For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof …
Job 19:6 Know now that God has overthrown me, and has compassed me with his net.
Psalm 73:14 For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning.
Psalm 88:15 I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer …
Isaiah 38:13 I reckoned till morning, that, as a lion, so will he break all my …
Lamentations 3:1-20 I AM the man that has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath…
Hebrews 12:11 Now no chastening for the present seems to be joyous, but grievous…
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?
and the
1 Samuel 2:7,8 The LORD makes poor, and makes rich: he brings low, and lifts up…
Job 1:21 And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I …
the Lord
Job 10:17 You renew your witnesses against me, and increase your indignation …
Job 13:26 For you write bitter things against me, and make me to possess the …
Job 16:8 And you have filled me with wrinkles, which is a witness against …
Malachi 3:5 And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness …
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.
in the beginning At the beginning of Spring; for the barley harvest began immediately after the passover, and that festival was held on the
Revelation 2:23 And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall …
Exodus 9:31,32 And the flax and the barley was smitten: for the barley was in the …
2 Samuel 21:9 And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they …
