Ruth 1:6-18·~1 min

Ruth’s Loyalty to Naomi

Hearing that food has returned to Judah, Naomi leaves Moab with her daughters-in-law. On the road she blesses them and urges them to seek new homes, but they weep and insist on going with her.

W⁶hen 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. ⁷Accompanied 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. ⁸Then 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. ⁹May the LORD enable each of you to find rest in the home of your new husband.” ¹⁰And she kissed them as they wept aloud and said, “Surely we will return with you to your people.”

Naomi presses them to go back, reasoning that she has no future sons to offer and naming her own bitterness under the LORD’s hand. The women weep again, and Orpah finally takes leave.

¹¹But Naomi replied, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you go with me? Are there still sons in my womb to become your husbands? ¹²Return 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, ¹³would you wait for them to grow up? Would you refrain from having husbands? No, my daughters, it is much more bitter for me than for you, because the hand of the LORD has gone out against me.” ¹⁴Again they wept aloud, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.

Naomi points Ruth toward Orpah’s path back to her people and gods, but Ruth answers with a vow of shared road, people, death, and burial. Seeing Ruth’s resolve, Naomi stops urging her away.

¹⁵“Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her gods; follow her back home.” ¹⁶But Ruth replied: ¹⁷Where you die, I will die, ¹⁸When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped trying to persuade her.

Section summaryWhen Naomi hears that the LORD has given food to Judah, she starts home with Orpah and Ruth and urges them to remain in Moab. Orpah finally turns back, but Ruth refuses to leave Naomi and binds herself to Naomi’s people, God, and future.

Role in the chapterThis section turns the story from bereavement toward return, while revealing the bond that will carry the book forward. Ruth’s choice stands out against Naomi’s bitterness and gives the journey its human center.