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16 [a]But Ruth said, “Do not press me to go back and abandon you!

Wherever you go I will go,
    wherever you lodge I will lodge.
Your people shall be my people
    and your God, my God.

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Footnotes

  1. 1:16–17 Ruth’s adherence to her mother-in-law in 1:14 is now expressed in a profound oath of loyalty, culminating in a formulary found frequently in Samuel and Kings; cf. especially 1 Sm 20:13. Even death: burial in Naomi’s family tomb means that not even death will separate them.

16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you(A) or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go,(B) and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people(C) and your God my God.(D)

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[a]Boaz continued, “When you acquire the field from Naomi, you also acquire responsibility for Ruth the Moabite,(A) the widow of the late heir, to raise up a family for the deceased on his estate.”

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Footnotes

  1. 4:5–6 Although redemption and levirate practices are not otherwise linked in the Bible, they belong in the same area of need. Boaz claims that buying Elimelech’s field obligates the other redeemer to produce an heir for Mahlon, who would then inherit the land. That would jeopardize this redeemer’s overall holdings, since he would lose the land he had paid for. He can afford the first step but not the second, and cedes his responsibility to Boaz, who is willing to do both.

Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the land from Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite,(A) the[a] dead man’s widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property.”(B)

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Footnotes

  1. Ruth 4:5 Vulgate and Syriac; Hebrew (see also Septuagint) Naomi and from Ruth the Moabite, you acquire the