Ruth

About Ruth

Ruth is a short, tender story about a Moabite widow whose loyalty to her mother-in-law Naomi leads her to Israel's God and into Israel's story. Through the kindness of Boaz, a family-redeemer, emptiness turns to fullness and grief to joy. The book ends with a surprise: Ruth becomes the great-grandmother of King David, quietly showing that God's plan welcomes outsiders and works through ordinary faithfulness.

Written by

The book is anonymous; Jewish tradition credits Samuel, but the text itself never names its author.

When

The story is set in the days of the judges (roughly 1100s BC); since it ends with David's family line, it was written no earlier than his time, and scholars differ on whether it was composed during the monarchy or after the exile.

Themes

• Loyal love
• God's quiet providence
• Redemption
• Welcoming the outsider
• From emptiness to fullness

Key verses

• Ruth 1:16But Ruth replied: “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.
• Ruth 2:12May the LORD repay your work, and may you receive a rich reward from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have taken refuge.”
• Ruth 4:14Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without a kinsman-redeemer. May his name become famous in Israel.