Bible Strands
Ruth 1:12
Return home, my daughters. Go on, for I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was hope for me to have a husband tonight and to bear sons,
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Naomi addresses Ruth and Orpah at the Moabite border after the deaths of her husband and sons. She commands them to abandon their journey with her and return to their natal homes.
The words — The imperative שֹׁ֤בְנָה (Shoe.nah) means "go back," and the perfect verb זָקַ֖נְתִּי (za.Kan.ti) states "I am old." These terms establish a biological boundary that makes Naomi's proposal of future husbands impossible.
The thread — Naomi's age and childlessness parallel Abraham's reaction in Genesis 17:17 and align with the sixty-year threshold for widows in 1 Timothy 5:9. The text uses advanced age to mark the end of reproductive possibility and the cessation of familial provision.
Why it lands — The verse demands that a reader acknowledge the finality of Naomi's situation without romanticizing her loss. It requires the listener to accept that waiting for biological reversal is futile and that decisive separation is the only logical path forward.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Turn again, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have an husband. If I should say, I have hope, if I should have an husband also to night, and should also bear sons;
Cross-references
- Genesis 17:17 Abraham fell facedown. Then he laughed and said to himself, “Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah give birth at the age of ninety?”
- 1 Timothy 5:9 A widow should be enrolled if she is at least sixty years old, faithful to her husband,