Return 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,
Parallel translations
- WEB Go back, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say, ‘I have hope,’ if I should even have a husband tonight, and should also bear sons;
- KJV 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;
- NKJV Turn back, my daughters, go—for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, if I should have a husband tonight and should also bear sons,
- NASB Return, my daughters! Go, for I am too old to have a husband. If I said I have hope, if I were even to have a husband tonight and also give birth to sons,
- NLT No, my daughters, return to your parents’ homes, for I am too old to marry again. And even if it were possible, and I were to get married tonight and bear sons, then what?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Naomi argues she is too old to remarry and bear sons for them. She presses them to seek their own futures rather than wait on her.
Overview
Continuing her argument from levirate custom, Naomi insists that even an immediate remarriage and pregnancy could not realistically help them. Her words convey both maternal care and the depth of her hopelessness. The narrative builds the sense of a dead-end situation that only God's providence, working through a near kinsman, can reverse.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 2
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Boaz the kinsman-redeemer who buys back the destitute and takes a bride foreshadows Christ, our Redeemer who pays the price to make a people his own; and from Ruth's line comes David, and David's greater Son.
How Ruth 1:12 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.