When 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.
Parallel translations
- WEB Then she arose with her daughters-in-law, that she might return from the country of Moab; for she had heard in the country of Moab how Yahweh had visited his people in giving them bread.
- KJV Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the LORD had visited his people in giving them bread.
- NKJV Then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the Lord had visited His people by giving them bread.
- NASB Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the land of Moab, because she had heard in the land of Moab that the Lord had visited His people by giving them food.
- NLT Then Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had blessed his people in Judah by giving them good crops again. So Naomi and her daughters-in-law got ready to leave Moab to return to her homeland.
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
Hearing that the LORD has given His people bread again, Naomi decides to return home from Moab. God's provision in Bethlehem draws her back.
Overview
News that 'Yahweh had visited his people' with food signals the famine's end and God's care for Israel. The famine that sent the family out is reversed by the Lord's provision, prompting Naomi's return. Her daughters-in-law set out with her, beginning the journey that will bring Ruth into the covenant people and, in time, into the genealogy of David and Jesus.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 23
- Ps 132:15I will bless her with abundant provisions; I will satisfy her poor with bread.
- Ps 111:5He provides food for those who fear Him; He remembers His covenant forever.
- Exod 4:31and they believed. And when they heard that the LORD had attended to the Israelites and had seen their affliction, they bowed down and worshiped.
- Exod 3:16Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—has appeared to me and said: I have surely attended to you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt.
- Exod 16:4–6Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to go out and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test whether or not they will follow My instructions.
- Luke 19:44They will level you to the ground—you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.”
- Luke 1:68“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, because He has visited and redeemed His people.
- 1 Sam 2:21So the LORD attended to Hannah, and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the LORD.
- Isa 55:10For just as rain and snow fall from heaven and do not return without watering the earth, making it bud and sprout, and providing seed to sow and food to eat,
- Jer 29:10For this is what the LORD says: “When Babylon’s seventy years are complete, I will attend to you and confirm My promise to restore you to this place.
- Matt 6:11Give us this day our daily bread.
- Ps 104:14–15He makes the grass grow for the livestock and provides crops for man to cultivate, bringing forth food from the earth:
- Zeph 2:7The coast will belong to the remnant of the house of Judah; there they will find pasture. They will lie down in the evening among the houses of Ashkelon, for the LORD their God will attend to them and restore their captives.
- Gen 48:15Then he blessed Joseph and said: “May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day,
- Gen 28:20Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and watch over me on this journey, and if He will provide me with food to eat and clothes to wear,
- Gen 21:1Now the LORD attended to Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what He had promised.
- Ps 145:15The eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food in season.
- Gen 50:25And Joseph made the sons of Israel take an oath and said, “God will surely attend to you, and then you must carry my bones up from this place.”
- Ps 146:7He executes justice for the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets the prisoners free,
- Ps 147:14He makes peace at your borders; He fills you with the finest wheat.
- 1 Pet 2:12Conduct yourselves with such honor among the Gentiles that, though they slander you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us.
- 1 Tim 6:8But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these.
- Prov 30:8Keep falsehood and deceitful words far from me. Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the bread that is my portion.
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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 1:6 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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