Passage

Ruth 1.16

Book: Ruth · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

14. And they lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clave unto her. 15. And she said, Behold, thy sister-in-law is gone back unto her people, and unto her god: return thou after thy sister-in-law.

16. And Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave thee, and to return from following after thee, for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God;

where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: Jehovah do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me. 18. And when she saw that she was stedfastly minded to go with her, she left off speaking unto her. (Ruth 1:14-18, ASV)

WEB

14. They lifted up their voices, and wept again; then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth joined with her. 15. She said, “Behold, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people, and to her god. Follow your sister-in-law.”

16. Ruth said, “Don’t urge me to leave you, and to return from following you, for where you go, I will go; and where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people, and your God my God.

Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May Yahweh do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts you and me.” 18. When she saw that she was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her. (Ruth 1:14-18, WEB)

KJV

14. And they lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpah kissed her mother in law; but Ruth clave unto her. 15. And she said, Behold, thy sister in law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister in law.

16. And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: ^{Intreat: or, Be not against me}

Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me. 18. When she saw that she was stedfastly minded to go with her, then she left speaking unto her. ^{was: Heb. strengthened herself} (Ruth 1:14-18, KJV)

YLT

14. And they lift up their voice, and weep again, and Orpah kisseth her mother-in-law, and Ruth hath cleaved to her. 15. And she saith, 'Lo, thy sister-in-law hath turned back unto her people, and unto her god, turn thou back after thy sister-in-law.'

16. And Ruth saith, 'Urge me not to leave thee, to turn back from after thee; for whither thou goest I go, and where thou lodgest I lodge; thy people [is] my people, and thy God my God.

Where thou diest I die, and there I am buried; thus doth Jehovah to me, and thus doth He add, for death itself doth part between me and thee.' 18. And she seeth that she is strengthening herself to go with her, and she ceaseth to speak unto her; (Ruth 1:14-18, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: Ruth, answering Naomi
Audience: Naomi
Location: the road from Moab toward the land of Judah (Ruth 1:7)
Time period: the days when the judges judged (Ruth 1:1), c. 1100 BC

Theological reading

Ruth's answer to Naomi's repeated urging to turn back is the book's confession of faith. It moves from the road to the household to the nation to God: "whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God." The sentence runs on into an oath sworn in Jehovah's name, "Jehovah do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me" (Ruth 1:17).

The contrast with Orpah, who "is gone back unto her people, and unto her god" (Ruth 1:15), shows that the choice is religious as well as personal. A Moabite woman leaves Moab's god and takes the God of Israel as her own, and she does it by binding herself to a destitute Israelite widow rather than to any prospect of gain.

The book never stops calling her "Ruth the Moabitess" (Ruth 1:22, 2:2, 4:10). Her entry into Israel does not erase where she came from, and the story ends with her in the line of David (Ruth 4:17) and, in Matthew 1:5, in the ancestry of Jesus Christ. That is why the verse is central to the codex's answer to the claim that Gentiles cannot belong to God's people; see Gentiles Cannot Be Saved Objection Defeater.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word.

H7725 - shuv, shuv, Strong's H7725
H0430 - elohim, elohim, Strong's H0430

Quoted in

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Notes

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Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.