Bible Strands
Ruth 1:15
“Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her gods; follow her back home.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Naomi speaks to Ruth immediately after Orpah departs, urging her to follow her sister-in-law back to her Moabite homeland.
The words — Naomi uses הִנֵּה (hi.Neh, "look/there!") and שָׁבָה (Sha.vah, "she has returned") to mark Orpah's decisive turn toward her original עַמָּהּ (am/mah, "people") and אֱלֹהֶיהָ (eloh/ey/hah, "gods").
The thread — This departure motif echoes Judges 11:24's appeal to tribal deities, Zephaniah 1:6's warning against those who turn back from following the LORD, and Joshua 24:15's demand to choose whom one will serve.
Why it lands — The verse presents a concrete choice between ethnic-religious origin and covenant loyalty, forcing the reader to confront what it costs to follow a foreign God over familiar gods.
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
And she said, Behold, thy sister in law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister in law.
Cross-references
- Judges 11:24 Do you not possess whatever your god Chemosh grants you? So also, we possess whatever the LORD our God has granted us.
- Zephaniah 1:6 and those who turn back from following the LORD, neither seeking the LORD nor inquiring of Him.”
- Joshua 24:15 But if it is unpleasing in your sight to serve the LORD, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD!”
- 2 Kings 2:2 and Elijah said to Elisha, “Please stay here, for the LORD has sent me on to Bethel.” But Elisha replied, “As surely as the LORD lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel.
- Psalms 125:5 But those who turn to crooked ways the LORD will banish with the evildoers. Peace be upon Israel.
- Joshua 24:19 But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the LORD, for He is a holy God; He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your rebellion or your sins.
- 2 Samuel 15:19 Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why should you also go with us? Go back and stay with the new king, since you are both a foreigner and an exile from your homeland.
- Psalms 36:3 The words of his mouth are wicked and deceitful; he has ceased to be wise and well-doing.
- Matthew 13:20 The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and at once receives it with joy.
- Luke 14:26 “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be My disciple.