Ruth and Naomi
Where you go, I will go
This story begins with the deaths of Naomi's husband and both of her sons.
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- An underlined word shows what it means.
Story
What happened?
Tap a verse number, like , to read the Bible’s exact words.
Who’s who and what came beforePeople, places, and the story so far. Open it anytime.
Scene Card
Cast
- Naomi: A woman from Bethlehem. She moved to Moab with her husband and two sons during a famine.
- Ruth: A young woman from Moab. She married Mahlon, one of Naomi's sons (4:10).
- Orpah: Another young woman from Moab. She married Naomi's other son.
- Boaz: An important landowner in Bethlehem and a man of noble character. He is a relative of Naomi's husband.
- The women of Bethlehem: Naomi's old neighbors.
Setting
- First the land of Moab, a country east of the Dead Sea. Then the road back to Judah. Then the town of Bethlehem, with its barley fields, its threshing floor, and its town gate.
When
- More than 3,000 years ago, in the days when judges led Israel. Israel had no king yet.
Before the Story
Israel had no king yet. When enemies attacked, God sent leaders called judges to rescue the people (Judges 2:16).
Moab was a neighbor country. Israel and Moab were often enemies. The Moabites worshiped other gods (Easton's Bible Dictionary).
Widows were in danger. A widow is a woman whose husband has died. A widow with no sons often had no land, no money, and no one to protect her. God's law told Israel to leave food in the fields for widows and foreigners (Deuteronomy 24:19).
Here's what you know that almost nobody in this story knows: This sad family story will lead to King David (4:17).
Map of the Story
| Scene | Verses | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| 1. No bread in Bethlehem | 1:1-2 | A famine sends Naomi's family to Moab |
| 2. Naomi loses her family | 1:3-5 | Naomi's husband and both sons die |
| 3. The road back | 1:6-14 | Naomi tells Ruth and Orpah to go home |
| 4. "Where you go, I will go" | 1:15-18 | Ruth refuses to leave Naomi |
| 5. "Call me Mara" | 1:19-22 | Naomi comes home full of grief |
| 6. Gleaning | 2:1-7 | Ruth gathers leftover grain in Boaz's field |
| 7. Boaz is kind | 2:8-16 | Boaz protects and feeds Ruth |
| 8. A redeemer in the family | 2:17-23 | Naomi learns who helped Ruth |
| 9. The threshing floor | 3:1-9 | Ruth asks Boaz to marry her |
| 10. Boaz's promise | 3:10-18 | Boaz promises to settle it |
| 11. At the town gate | 4:1-12 | Boaz becomes the redeemer |
| 12. A baby on Naomi's lap | 4:13-22 | Obed is born, the grandfather of David |
Plain Retelling
Scene 1 of 12No Bread in Bethlehem
In Bethlehem, there was no bread. The name Bethlehem means "house of bread." But a famine had come. A famine is a time when there is not enough food.
A man named Elimelech lived in Bethlehem. His wife's name was Naomi. They had two sons, Mahlon and Chilion.
Because of the famine, the family left home. They moved to Moab, a foreign country, and settled there as immigrants.
Scene 2 of 12Naomi Loses Her Family
Then Naomi's husband, Elimelech, died. Naomi was a widow now. She still had her two sons.
The sons married women from Moab, named Orpah and Ruth. The family had lived in Moab about ten years. Then Mahlon and Chilion died too.
The Bible doesn't say how they died. It says Naomi was left without her two sons and without her husband. She was far from home, and her family was gone.
Scene 3 of 12The Road Back
Then news reached Naomi. The LORD had given his people food again. LORD in capital letters stands for God's personal name. Jewish readers traditionally don't say it aloud, out of respect.
So Naomi started home to Judah. Orpah and Ruth went with her.
On the road, Naomi told them to go back to their mothers' homes. She said, "May the LORD show you loving devotion, as you have shown to your dead and to me" (1:8).
Loving devotion is loyal, faithful love. The Hebrew word is hesed. It is love that keeps its promises and stays. This word runs through the whole story.
Naomi kissed them, and they all cried out loud. "We will go with you to your people," they said.
Naomi said she was too old to have more sons for them to marry. She said, "the hand of the LORD has gone out against me" (1:13). "The hand of the LORD" is a figure of speech for God's power. Naomi felt that God himself was against her.
They cried again. Orpah kissed Naomi goodbye and went home, as Naomi had asked. But Ruth held on to Naomi.
Scene 4 of 12"Where You Go, I Will Go"
Naomi told Ruth to follow Orpah back to her people and her gods.
Ruth answered, "Do not urge me to leave you or to turn from following you. For wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you live, I will live; your people will be my people, and your God will be my God" (1:16).
"Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried" (1:17). Ruth made a serious promise in the LORD's name.
Ruth was giving up her country, her family, and her gods. She chose a widow who had nothing to give her. Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her. So Naomi stopped trying to change Ruth's mind.
Scene 5 of 12"Call Me Mara"
The two women walked to Bethlehem. Everyone in town was talking about them. The women said, "Can this be Naomi?"
The name Naomi means "pleasant." The name Mara means "bitter."
Naomi said, "Call me Mara, because the Almighty has dealt quite bitterly with me. I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty" (1:20-21).
Naomi told the truth about her pain. The Bible does not scold her for it. Many psalms speak with the same honest pain.
Naomi said she came back empty. But she did not come back alone. Ruth the Moabite came with her. And they arrived at the beginning of the barley harvest.
Scene 6 of 12Gleaning
Naomi had a relative on her husband's side named Boaz. He was an important man of noble character, from Elimelech's clan.
Ruth asked Naomi if she could go glean in the fields. To glean means to pick up the grain that harvest workers leave behind. God's law told farmers to leave the edges of their fields "for the poor and the foreigner" (Leviticus 19:10). Ruth was both.
Ruth went out to glean. She happened to come to the part of the field that belonged to Boaz. The story does not say that God led her there. But in Scene 8, Naomi saw the LORD's kindness in it (2:20).
Boaz came out and greeted his workers: "The LORD be with you" (2:4). He asked his foreman, the boss of the workers, who the young woman was. The foreman said she was the Moabite woman who came back with Naomi. She had worked since morning.
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Scene 7 of 12Boaz Is Kind
Boaz told Ruth to stay in his field, close to his women workers. He had ordered the young men to leave her alone. She could drink from their water jars.
Ruth bowed to the ground. She asked, "Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you should take notice of me, even though I am a foreigner?" (2:10).
Boaz said he had heard what she did for Naomi. She had left her parents and her homeland for a people she did not know.
Boaz prayed she would be rewarded by "the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have taken refuge" (2:12). This is a comparison. God is pictured like a bird keeping its young safe under its wings.
At mealtime, Boaz gave Ruth roasted grain. She ate until she was full and had some left over. Then he told his workers to pull out some stalks on purpose and leave them for her.
Scene 8 of 12A Redeemer in the Family
Ruth gleaned until evening. She had about an ephah of barley. Many scholars estimate that at about 30 pounds. That was a lot of grain for one day. She took it home to Naomi, with food saved from her meal.
Ruth told Naomi that she had worked in Boaz's field.
Naomi said, "May he be blessed by the LORD, who has not withdrawn His kindness from the living or the dead" (2:20). That word "kindness" is hesed again. On the road, Naomi said the LORD's hand was against her. Now she named his kindness.
Naomi said, "He is one of our kinsman-redeemers" (2:20). A kinsman-redeemer was a close relative with a duty to rescue family in trouble. To redeem means to buy back. He could buy back land a poor relative had to sell. He could help keep a dead man's family name alive.
Ruth gleaned in Boaz's fields until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. She lived with Naomi.
Scene 9 of 12The Threshing Floor
One day Naomi said she wanted to find a safe home for Ruth. Boaz would be at the threshing floor that night. A threshing floor was a flat, hard place where workers tossed grain in the air. The wind blew the husks away.
Naomi told Ruth to wash, put on perfume, and wear her best clothes. After Boaz lay down, she should uncover his feet and lie down there. Ruth did everything Naomi said.
That night Boaz ate and drank and lay down by the pile of grain. Ruth came quietly, uncovered his feet, and lay down.
At midnight, Boaz woke up startled. A woman was lying at his feet. "Who are you?" he asked.
"I am your servant Ruth," she said. "Spread the corner of your garment over me, for you are a kinsman-redeemer" (3:9). Spreading a garment over someone was a way to promise marriage and protection. Ruth was asking Boaz to marry her.
Scene 10 of 12Boaz's Promise
Boaz said, "May the LORD bless you, my daughter" (3:10). He said this kindness was even greater than her first. She had not gone after the younger men, rich or poor. "And now do not be afraid" (3:11). He said he would do whatever she asked. The whole town knew she was a woman of noble character. Remember, the story used the same words for Boaz (2:1).
But another relative was closer to the family. That man had the first right to redeem. If he would not, Boaz promised, "as surely as the LORD lives, I will" (3:13).
Ruth got up before it was light enough for anyone to recognize her. Boaz poured six measures of barley into her shawl. He did not want her to go back to Naomi empty-handed.
Naomi had said she came home empty. Now Boaz made sure Ruth did not come home empty. Naomi told Ruth to wait. Boaz would settle it that day.
Scene 11 of 12At the Town Gate
Boaz sat down at the town gate, where people settled business and legal matters. The closer relative came by. Ten elders, the town's older leaders, sat with them. The Bible doesn't give this relative's name.
Boaz said Naomi was selling Elimelech's land. The relative said, "I will redeem it" (4:4).
Then Boaz told him the rest. Whoever bought the land must also marry Ruth. Their child would carry on the dead man's name. The man changed his mind. He said that doing this would hurt his own family's inheritance.
Back then, people made a deal official by handing over a sandal. The man took off his sandal and gave it to Boaz.
Boaz said, "You are witnesses today" (4:9). He bought the land and took Ruth as his wife. The people blessed them. They prayed Ruth would be like Rachel and Leah, mothers of the tribes of Israel.
Scene 12 of 12A Baby on Naomi's Lap
Boaz and Ruth were married. The LORD enabled Ruth to become pregnant, and she had a son.
The women said to Naomi, "Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without a kinsman-redeemer" (4:14). They said Ruth "loves you and is better to you than seven sons" (4:15).
Naomi took the child and held him on her lap. She helped take care of him. Naomi had gone away full and come back empty. Now her arms were full again.
The neighbor women said, "A son has been born to Naomi." They named the baby Obed. "He became the father of Jesse, the father of David" (4:17). David was the shepherd God chose to be king. Ruth, the foreigner from Moab, was his great-grandmother.
Many years later, Matthew began his Gospel with Jesus's family tree. Ruth is named in it: "Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth" (Matthew 1:5).
Meaning
What does it mean?
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What Does This Mean?
| The text says | It means |
|---|---|
| "Loving devotion" (1:8) | The Hebrew word is hesed. It means loyal, faithful love that keeps its promises. Ruth shows it. Boaz shows it. Through them both, God shows it. |
| "The hand of the LORD has gone out against me" (1:13) | Naomi felt that God was against her. It is honest grief. The Bible lets her say it. |
| "Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God" (1:16) | Ruth joined Naomi's people and trusted Naomi's God. It was a promise for life. |
| "Call me Mara" (1:20) | Mara means "bitter." Naomi named herself by her pain. The story keeps calling her Naomi. At the end, the neighbor women say her name again: "A son has been born to Naomi" (4:17). |
| "Under whose wings you have taken refuge" (2:12) | A comparison. God protects like a bird covering its young. In 3:9, the word for the "corner" of Boaz's garment is the same Hebrew word as "wings." Boaz prayed for God's protection over Ruth. Then Ruth asked Boaz to be part of that answer. |
| "Kinsman-redeemer" (2:20) | A close relative with a duty to rescue family in trouble. He could buy back family land (Leviticus 25:25). |
| "Spread the corner of your garment over me" (3:9) | A request for marriage and protection. |
| "Better to you than seven sons" (4:15) | Back then, sons were a family's future and safety. Seven is often a number for "complete" in the Bible. This is very high praise for Ruth. |
Back Then
Bethlehem means "house of bread." It was a small town in Judah, south of Jerusalem. (Easton's Bible Dictionary)
Moab lay east of the Dead Sea. The Bible traces the Moabites back to Lot, Abraham's nephew (Genesis 19:37). (Easton's Bible Dictionary)
Gleaning was the law's way of feeding the poor. Farmers left the edges of their fields and any forgotten bundles for the poor, the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow (Leviticus 19:9-10, Deuteronomy 24:19). (Easton's Bible Dictionary)
The kinsman-redeemer is called the goel in Hebrew. He was the nearest male relative. He could buy back family land and help a family in danger of losing its name. (Easton's Bible Dictionary)
A threshing floor was an open, flat, hard place, often on high ground where the wind could blow. Grain was separated from husks there. (Easton's Bible Dictionary)
An ephah was a measure for grain. It equaled ten omers (Easton's Bible Dictionary). In Exodus, one omer of manna was one person's food for a day (Exodus 16:16, 16:36). Modern estimates of an ephah vary. Many put it at about 30 pounds.
The town gate was the town's meeting place. Business, trials, and public agreements happened there. (Easton's Bible Dictionary)
Jewish communities read the book of Ruth at Shavuot, the spring harvest festival also called the Feast of Weeks.
Literal Reader Alert
What happened at the threshing floor? The Bible tells this scene quietly and modestly. Scholars discuss what "uncover his feet" means and why Naomi chose it. What Ruth asked for is clear. She asked Boaz to marry her and protect her (3:9). Boaz answered by praising her noble character (3:11). He promised to let the closer relative choose first (3:12-13). The next day, he settled it in front of the town elders (4:1-10). Then he sent her home before anyone could recognize her. He did not want it known that a woman had come to the threshing floor (3:14). They were married at the town gate the next day (4:10).
Didn't God's law keep Moabites out? Deuteronomy 23:3 says no Moabite may enter the assembly of the LORD. Yet this story welcomes a Moabite woman, and she becomes David's great-grandmother. Later Jewish teachers said that law was about Moabite men, not women (Mishnah, Yevamot 8:3). It's okay to notice things like this. Careful readers have asked about it for centuries.
Was Naomi sinning when she said God was against her? The Bible does not say so. It does not correct her. Job and many psalms speak to God with the same kind of honest pain. Naomi did not stop talking about God. She spoke about God honestly, with the grief she had.
Did Orpah do something wrong? No. Naomi told her to go home three times (1:8, 1:11, 1:12). Orpah obeyed and kissed her goodbye. The story does not blame her.
How People Feel
| Who | Feeling | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Naomi | Deeply sad and bitter | Her husband and both sons had died (1:5, 1:20) |
| Ruth | Determined | She would not leave Naomi alone (1:16-18) |
| Ruth | Surprised and grateful | A stranger was kind to her, a foreigner (2:10, 2:13) |
| Naomi | Hopeful | She saw God's kindness in Boaz (2:20) |
| Boaz | Startled | He woke at midnight and found a woman at his feet (3:8) |
| The women of Bethlehem | Joyful | God had given Naomi a redeemer (4:14) |
For you
What does it mean for me?
Your Turn
Where are you in this story today? Tap one.
Grieving, like Naomi
Naomi told the truth about how much it hurt. You can tell God too. God did not turn away from Naomi. If this brings up big feelings, talk with a parent, pastor, or trusted adult.
Far from home
Ruth was a foreigner in a new land. God's law made room for her, and God's people welcomed her. God sees you where you are.
Feeling empty
Naomi said, "the LORD has brought me back empty." She was not left that way. God often works slowly and quietly, through ordinary people.
Someone stayed with me
That is hesed, loyal and faithful love. It is one of the ways God stays with us. You can thank God for that person.
It's really bad right now
Naomi said her pain out loud, and that was not wrong. Please tell a trusted adult today. In the U.S., you can call or text 988 any time. If you are in danger, call 911 or your local emergency number. Outside the U.S., findahelpline.com lists free helplines.
You Might Have Heard
"Be loyal like Ruth, and God will reward you."
What's true: Ruth's loyal love is beautiful. Boaz even prayed that the LORD would reward her (2:12).
What the story is mainly about: God, working quietly. The LORD gave his people food again (1:6). The LORD gave Ruth a son (4:13). God did not wait for Naomi to stop grieving before he helped her. And God welcomed a foreigner from an enemy nation into his people. Ruth did not earn her place. She was taken in.
Where Jesus is: Ruth's name is in Jesus's family tree (Matthew 1:5). Jesus was born into David's family, and a Moabite widow is part of that family. Christians call Jesus our Redeemer. Paul says "God sent His Son, born of a woman" (Galatians 4:4). He came "to redeem those under the law" (Galatians 4:5). Like a kinsman-redeemer, Jesus became part of our family to buy us back.
Good News
Naomi said she came home empty. God did not argue with her grief. He stayed near. "The LORD is near to the brokenhearted" (Psalm 34:18). The brokenhearted are people crushed by sadness.
God's loyal love kept working, even when Naomi could not see it. It came through a foreign daughter-in-law, a field of leftover grain, and a kind farmer who kept his word.
Ruth came as a stranger and was made part of God's people. Paul writes to people who were once outsiders too: "you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God's household" (Ephesians 2:19). In Baptism, God makes you part of his household too, wherever you come from.
When you feel empty, God has not let go of you. In Jesus, your Redeemer, his loyal love holds on to you.
Big Idea
God works quietly through loyal, faithful love to fill the empty, welcome the foreigner, and redeem his people.
If this story brings up big feelings, talk with someone you trust, like a parent, pastor, or counselor.
For leaders and parentsLuther, church readings, and notes for teaching.
From Luther
In his Small Catechism (1529), Luther explains the part of the Creed about Jesus. He says Jesus has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person. He bought me back and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil. He did it not with gold or silver, but with his holy, precious blood and his innocent suffering and death. Boaz paid for a field to rescue a family. Jesus paid with his own life to rescue us.
In Church
Many churches follow the Revised Common Lectionary. In Year B, churches that read the Old Testament in order hear Ruth 1:1-18 around the start of November (Lectionary 31, also called Proper 26). The next Sunday they hear Ruth 3:1-5 and 4:13-17 (Lectionary 32, also called Proper 27).
We quote Luther for what he got right about grace. He also wrote terrible things about Jewish people. Read our note on that.
Memorize
How do I keep it?
One line from this story to learn by heart. Practice a little now. It will come back later so it sticks.
your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.
How did that feel?