# Ruth 01 📖: Naomi and Ruth Return Home [[📚 Explore the Bible Books]] [[-Ruth Overview]] | [[Judges 21]] | [[Ruth 02]] > [!info] Table of Contents > [[#📜 Scripture Text (NET)]] > [[#📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary]] > [[#🧠 Chapter Summary]] > [[#✝️ Christ in This Chapter]] > [[#🔎 Key Observations / 🛟 Life Application]] > [[#💬 Discussion Questions]] > [[#✍️ Key Verses to Remember]] > [[#🤔 Interesting Facts]] > [[#🔗 Related Passages]] > [[#🙏 Devotional Reflection]] > [[#📂 Internal Notes]] ## 📜 Scripture Text (NET) ## Elimelech Moves His Family to Moab [[#Verse 01.]] During the time of the judges, there was a famine in the land of Judah. So a man from [[M0007- Bethlehem]] in Judah went to live as a resident foreigner in the region of Moab, along with his wife and two sons. [[#Verse 02.]] (Now the man’s name was Elimelech, his wife was Naomi, and his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were of the clan of Ephrath from Bethlehem in Judah.) They entered the region of Moab and settled there. [[#Verse 03.]] Sometime later Naomi’s husband Elimelech died, so she and her two sons were left alone. [[#Verse 04.]] Both her sons married Moabite women. (One was named [[M0015- Orpah]] and the other Ruth.) And they continued to live there about 10 years. [[#Verse 05.]] Then Naomi’s two sons, Mahlon and Kilion, also died. So the woman was left all alone—bereaved of her two children as well as her husband! ## Naomi and Ruth Return [[#Verse 06.]] So she decided to return home from the region of Moab, accompanied by her daughters-in-law, because while she was living in Moab she had heard that the Lord had shown concern for his people, reversing the famine by providing abundant crops. [[#Verse 07.]] Now as she and her two daughters-in-law began to leave the place where she had been living to return to the land of Judah, [[#Verse 08.]] Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Listen to me! Each of you should return to your mother’s home. May the Lord show you the same kind of devotion that you have shown to your deceased husbands and to me. [[#Verse 09.]] May the Lord enable each of you to find security in the home of a new husband.” Then she kissed them goodbye, and they wept loudly. [[#Verse 10.]] But they said to her, “No! We will return with you to your people.” [[#Verse 11.]] But Naomi replied, “Go back home, my daughters! There is no reason for you to return to Judah with me. I am no longer capable of giving birth to sons who might become your husbands! [[#Verse 12.]] Go back home, my daughters! For I am too old to get married again. Even if I thought that there was hope that I could get married tonight and conceive sons, [[#Verse 13.]] surely you would not want to wait until they were old enough to marry. Surely you would not remain unmarried all that time! No, my daughters, you must not return with me. For my intense suffering is too much for you to bear. For the Lord is afflicting me!” [[#Verse 14.]] Again they wept loudly. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung tightly to her. [[#Verse 15.]] So Naomi said, “Look, your sister-in-law is returning to her people and to her god. Follow your sister-in-law back home!” [[#Verse 16.]] But Ruth replied, “Stop urging me to abandon you! For wherever you go, I will go. Wherever you live, I will live. Your people will become my people, and your God will become my God. [[#Verse 17.]] Wherever you die, I will die—and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me severely if I do not keep my promise! Only death will be able to separate me from you!” [[#Verse 18.]] When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped trying to dissuade her. [[#Verse 19.]] So the two of them journeyed together until they arrived in Bethlehem.When they entered Bethlehem, the whole village was excited about their arrival. The women of the village said, “Can this be Naomi?” [[#Verse 20.]] But she replied to them, “Don’t call me ‘Naomi’! Call me ‘Mara’ because the Sovereign One has treated me very harshly. [[#Verse 21.]] I left here full, but the Lord has caused me to return empty-handed. Why do you call me ‘Naomi,’ seeing that the Lord has opposed me, and the Sovereign One has caused me to suffer?” [[#Verse 22.]] So Naomi returned, accompanied by her Moabite daughter-in-law Ruth, who came back with her from the region of Moab. (Now they arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.) ## 📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary ###### Overall. **Meanings of names**: Elimelech- “My God is King” Naomi- Sweetness Mahlon- sickly Kilion- frail Bethlehem- “House of Bread” Moab- From Lot’s incestuous relationship with his daughter. [[Genesis 19]] ###### Verse 01. - Ruth happens during the time of the Judges. This was known as the darkest season in Israel’s history. It is amazing to realize that, in the middle of darkness, there were people still living for God and doing the right thing. That speaks to us today. ###### Verse 02. ###### Verse 03. ###### Verse 04. ###### Verse 05. ###### Verse 06. ###### Verse 07. ###### Verse 08. ###### Verse 09. ###### Verse 10. ###### Verse 11. ###### Verse 12. ###### Verse 13. ###### Verse 14. ###### Verse 15. ###### Verse 16. ###### Verse 17. ###### Verse 18. ###### Verse 19. ###### Verse 20. ###### Verse 21. ###### Verse 22. ## 🧠 Chapter Summary > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## ✝️ Christ in This Chapter Christ is the One who turns emptiness into fullness. Naomi comes home empty (1:21), yet she walks beside the Moabite woman whose family line will lead to David and to Jesus (Matthew 1:5). ## 🔎 Key Observations / 🛟 Life Application **Today, I can apply this chapter by:** - ✅ Realize that great stories often have devastating beginnings. - ✅ God can do great things through ordinary acts of faithfulness. ## 💬 Discussion Questions 1. Elimelech left Bethlehem to escape the famine. In what ways do we try to solve hard seasons by moving away from God's people or God's place? 2. Orpah and Ruth both loved Naomi, but only Ruth stayed. What do verses 16 and 17 teach about the difference between affection and faithfulness? 3. Naomi called herself "Mara" and said she came home empty, yet she came home with Ruth. Where might God be providing for you in ways you cannot see yet? ## ✍️ Key Verses to Remember - 📖 verse 16-18: Ruth’s declaration of loyalty to Naomi. - 📖 verse 20: Naomi feels her life is over. What she doesn’t realize is she is right where she needs to be. - 📖 verse 6: Naomi hears that the Lord has visited His people. Hope starts with a report of what God is doing. - 📖 verse 8: Naomi asks the Lord to show His *hesed* (faithful love), the word that drives the whole book. - 📖 verse 22: They arrive at the beginning of the barley harvest. The setting quietly hints that provision is coming. ## 🤔 Interesting Facts 1. Ruth is one of only two books in the Bible named after a woman. The other is Esther. 2. Elimelech's family left Bethlehem, which means "House of Bread," because there was no bread. The irony is part of the story. 3. The Moabites descended from Lot through his older daughter (Genesis 19:37). 4. Deuteronomy 23:3 barred Moabites from the assembly of the Lord, which makes Ruth's welcome into Israel even more striking. 5. Naomi's family lived in Moab about ten years before her sons died (1:4). 6. The Hebrew word *hesed*, loyal covenant love, first appears in the book in 1:8 and becomes its central theme. 7. Naomi's new name, Mara, means "bitter" (1:20). 8. Naomi calls God *Shaddai*, "the Almighty," twice in 1:20 to 1:21. 9. In the Hebrew Bible, Ruth sits among the Writings and is traditionally read at the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot). English Bibles place it after Judges. 10. Ruth 1:16 to 1:17 is often used in wedding vows, though it was spoken by a daughter-in-law to her mother-in-law. ## 🔗 Related Passages - 🔗 [[Genesis 19#Verse 30.|Genesis 19:30-38]] - The beginning of Moab. - 🔗 [[Judges 21#Verse 25.|Judges 21:25]] - The dark days when the judges ruled. - 🔗 [[Deuteronomy 23#Verse 03.|Deuteronomy 23:3-6]] - Moabites excluded from the assembly. - 🔗 [[Psalm 68#Verse 05.|Psalm 68:5]] - God is a father to the fatherless and a defender of widows. - 🔗 [[Matthew 01#Verse 05.|Matthew 1:5]] - Ruth in the family line of Jesus. ## 🙏 Devotional Reflection 📝 SOAP: [[Ruth 01 - SOAP|The Greatest Act of Faith Is Faithfulness]] ## 📂 Internal Notes