Ruth 1:13

would you wait for them to grow up? Would you refrain from having husbands? No, my daughters, it is much more bitter for me than for you, because the hand of the LORD has gone out against me.”

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Naomi addresses Orpah and Ruth while they are weeping and preparing to depart for their native lands. She interrupts their mourning to definitively close any possibility that she will provide them with future husbands.

The words — The Hebrew תֵּֽעָגֵ֔נָה (te.'a.Ge.nah) means "will you shut yourselves off," combined with לְ/בִלְתִּ֖י (le./vil.Ti) for "to not," forming a rhetorical question about voluntarily remaining unmarried. Naomi pairs this with the declaration that the hand of the LORD has gone out against her to ground her refusal in divine action rather than mere preference.

The thread — The expression "the hand of the LORD has gone out against me" aligns with the affliction motif in Job 19:21, Psalms 32:4, and Judges 2:15. Each cited passage uses the same idiom to describe God's hand as an active force of striking, heaviness, or calamity upon a person or nation.

Why it lands — The text requires the reader to accept Naomi's assessment that her desolate state is divinely ordained and irreversible. It demands a clear-eyed recognition that human hope cannot function where Scripture records God's hand as actively opposed.

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

הֲלָהֵ֣ן׀ha./la.Hen¿/ therefore תְּשַׂבֵּ֗רְנָהte.sa.Be.re.nahwill you wait עַ֚ד'aduntil אֲשֶׁ֣ר'a.Sherthat יִגְדָּ֔לוּyig.Da.luthey will grow up הֲלָהֵן֙ha./la.Hen¿/ therefore תֵּֽעָגֵ֔נָהte.'a.Ge.nahwill you shut yourselves off לְבִלְתִּ֖יle./vil.Tito/ not הֱי֣וֹתhe.Yotto belong לְאִ֑ישׁle./'Ishto/ a husband אַ֣ל'almay not [it be]בְּנֹתַ֗יbe.no.Ta/iO daughters/ my כִּֽי־ki-for מַר־mar-it is bitterלִ֤יl/ito <the>/ meמְאֹד֙me.'Odveryמִכֶּ֔םmi./Kemmore than/ youכִּֽי־ki-that יָצְאָ֥הya.tze.'Ahit has gone forthבִ֖יv/ion <the>/ meיַד־yad-[the] hand of יְהוָֽה׃Yah.wehYahweh

King James Version

Would ye tarry for them till they were grown? would ye stay for them from having husbands? nay, my daughters; for it grieveth me much for your sakes that the hand of the Lord is gone out against me.

Cross-references

Job 19:21 Have pity on me, my friends, have pity, for the hand of God has struck me.
Psalms 32:4 For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was drained as in the summer heat. Selah
Judges 2:15 Wherever Israel marched out, the hand of the LORD was against them to bring calamity, just as He had sworn to them. So they were greatly distressed.
Psalms 38:2 For Your arrows have pierced me deeply, and Your hand has pressed down on me.
Psalms 39:9 I have become mute; I do not open my mouth because of what You have done.
Deuteronomy 2:15 Indeed, the LORD’s hand was against them, to eliminate them from the camp, until they had all perished.
1 Samuel 5:11 Then the Ekronites called together all the rulers of the Philistines and said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel. It must return to its place, so that it will not kill us and our people!” For a deadly confusion had pervaded the city; the hand of God was very heavy upon it.