And Elimelech Naomi’s husband died; and she was left, and her two sons.
Parallel translations
- WEB Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left with her two sons.
- BSB Then Naomi’s husband Elimelech died, and she was left with her two sons,
- NKJV Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left, and her two sons.
- NASB Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left with her two sons.
- NLT Then Elimelech died, and Naomi was left with her two sons.
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
Elimelech dies, leaving Naomi a widow with only her two sons. The first of several losses begins Naomi's descent into emptiness.
Overview
The death of the household's head leaves Naomi vulnerable in a foreign land. In Israel's social order a woman's security came largely through husband and sons, so this loss is grave. The narrator records it without explanation, inviting the reader to trust that God remains at work even when life is marked by grief and apparent abandonment.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Ps 34:19Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.
- 2 Kgs 4:1Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the LORD: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen.
- Heb 12:6For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
- Heb 12:10–11For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
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 1:3 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
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