Boaz replied, “I have been made fully aware of all you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, how you left your father and mother and the land of your birth, and how you came to a people you did not know before.
Parallel translations
- WEB Boaz answered her, “I have been fully told about all that you have done to your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you have left your father and your mother, and the land of your birth, and have come to a people that you didn’t know before.
- KJV And Boaz answered and said unto her, It hath fully been shewed me, all that thou hast done unto thy mother in law since the death of thine husband: and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore.
- NKJV And Boaz answered and said to her, “It has been fully reported to me, all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and have come to a people whom you did not know before.
- NASB Boaz replied to her, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband has been fully reported to me, and how you left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and came to a people that you did not previously know.
- NLT “Yes, I know,” Boaz replied. “But I also know about everything you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband. I have heard how you left your father and mother and your own land to live here among complete strangers.
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
Boaz explains he has heard of Ruth's sacrificial loyalty to Naomi and her leaving home for an unknown people. Her faith and devotion have become known and are honored.
Overview
Boaz recounts how Ruth left father, mother, and homeland to care for Naomi among a foreign people—language echoing Abraham's call (Genesis 12:1). Her loyalty has clearly earned a good reputation. Boaz recognizes that such self-giving faith deserves blessing, setting up his prayer that God would reward her.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Luke 14:33In the same way, any one of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be My disciple.
- Luke 18:29–30“Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God
- Ps 37:5–6Commit your way to the LORD; trust in Him, and He will do it.
- Luke 5:11And when they had brought their boats ashore, they left everything and followed Him.
- Ps 45:10Listen, O daughter! Consider and incline your ear: Forget your people and your father’s house,
- Ruth 1:14–22Again they wept aloud, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.
- Heb 11:8–9By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, without knowing where he was going.
- Luke 5:23Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk?’
- Ruth 1:11But Naomi replied, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you go with me? Are there still sons in my womb to become your husbands?
- Heb 11:24–26By faith Moses, when he was grown, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.
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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 2:11 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.