both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and without her husband.
Parallel translations
- WEB Mahlon and Chilion both died, and the woman was bereaved of her two children and of her husband.
- KJV And Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them; and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband.
- NKJV Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died; so the woman survived her two sons and her husband.
- NASB Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.
- NLT both Mahlon and Kilion died. This left Naomi alone, without her two sons or her husband.
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
Both sons die, leaving Naomi stripped of husband and children. Her emptiness is now complete, setting up God's reversal through Ruth.
Overview
The repeated losses leave Naomi bereft of every male provider, an utterly desperate situation in the ancient world. The narrator lingers on her bereavement to make her later restoration shine more brightly. This lowest point prepares the way for God's hidden providence, which will turn a widow's grief into the joy of redemption and the continuation of the messianic line.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Deut 32:39See now that I am He; there is no God besides Me. I bring death and I give life; I wound and I heal, and there is no one who can deliver from My hand.
- Ps 89:30–32If his sons forsake My law and do not walk in My judgments,
- Isa 49:21Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who has begotten these for me? I was bereaved and barren; I was exiled and rejected. So who has reared them? Look, I was left all alone, so where did they come from?’”
- Jer 2:19Your own evil will discipline you; your own apostasies will reprimand you. Consider and realize how evil and bitter it is for you to forsake the LORD your God and to have no fear of Me,” declares the Lord GOD of Hosts.
- Matt 22:25–27Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died without having children. So he left his wife to his brother.
- Luke 7:12As He approached the town gate, He saw a dead man being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her.
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 1:5 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.