Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and the woman was left without her two sons and 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.
- BSB both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and without her husband.
- ESV and both Mahlon and Chilion died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.
- NKJV Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died; so the woman survived her two sons and her husband.
- NLT both Mahlon and Kilion died. This left Naomi alone, without her two sons or her husband.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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 32:39“See now that I myself am he. There is no god with me. I kill and I make alive. I wound and I heal. There is no one who can deliver out of my hand.
- Ps 89:30–32If his children forsake my law, and don’t walk in my ordinances;
- Isa 49:21Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who has conceived these for me, since I have been bereaved of my children, and am solitary, an exile, and wandering back and forth? Who has brought these up? Behold, I was left alone. Where were these?’”
- Jer 2:19“Your own wickedness will correct you, and your backsliding will rebuke you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing, that you have forsaken Yahweh your God, and that my fear is not in you,” says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies.
- Matt 22:25–27Now there were with us seven brothers. The first married and died, and having no offspring left his wife to his brother.
- Luke 7:12Now when he came near to the gate of the city, behold, one who was dead was carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. Many people of the city were 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.