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.
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.
- BSB 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.
- 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.
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 abundantly bless her provision. I will satisfy her poor with bread.
- Ps 111:5He has given food to those who fear him. He always remembers his covenant.
- Exod 4:31The people believed, and when they heard that Yahweh had visited the children of Israel, and that he had seen their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped.
- Exod 3:16Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and tell them, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt;
- Exod 16:4–6Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from the sky for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law, or not.
- Luke 19:44and will dash you and your children within you to the ground. They will not leave in you one stone on another, because you didn’t know the time of your visitation.”
- Luke 1:68“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people;
- 1 Sam 2:21Yahweh visited Hannah, and she conceived, and bore three sons and two daughters. The child Samuel grew before Yahweh.
- Isa 55:10For as the rain comes down and the snow from the sky, and doesn’t return there, but waters the earth, and makes it grow and bud, and gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
- Jer 29:10For Yahweh says, “After seventy years are accomplished for Babylon, I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.
- Matt 6:11Give us today our daily bread.
- Ps 104:14–15He causes the grass to grow for the livestock, and plants for man to cultivate, that he may produce food out of the earth:
- Zeph 2:7The coast will be for the remnant of the house of Judah. They will find pasture. In the houses of Ashkelon, they will lie down in the evening, for Yahweh, their God, will visit them, and restore them.
- Gen 48:15He blessed Joseph, and said, “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has fed me all my life long to this day,
- Gen 28:20Jacob vowed a vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and clothing to put on,
- Gen 21:1Yahweh visited Sarah as he had said, and Yahweh did to Sarah as he had spoken.
- Ps 145:15The eyes of all wait for you. You give them their food in due season.
- Gen 50:25Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.”
- Ps 146:7who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. Yahweh frees the prisoners.
- Ps 147:14He makes peace in your borders. He fills you with the finest of the wheat.
- 1 Pet 2:12having good behavior among the nations, so in that of which they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they see, glorify God in the day of visitation.
- 1 Tim 6:8But having food and clothing, we will be content with that.
- Prov 30:8Remove far from me falsehood and lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food that is needful for me;
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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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