Bible Strands
Ruth 1:16
But 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.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Ruth speaks to Naomi, who has just urged her to return to her own people and gods (v. 15). This is Ruth's refusal.
The words — The verb פָּגַע (pāgaʿ, H6293), "to strike, assault," is what Naomi is doing to Ruth: not a gentle suggestion but an active attempt to break her resolve. Ruth's "do not strike at me" reframes a mother-in-law's concern as an assault.
The thread — The same pattern of refusing a dismissal with a solemn oath appears in 2 Samuel 15:21 (Ittai to David) and 2 Kings 2:2 (Elisha to Elijah). Ruth 2:11 confirms the commitment was kept, as Boaz acknowledges Ruth's sustained devotion.
Why it lands — This is a voluntary, costly decision: a Moabite giving up her people, her gods, and her security in direct response to a command to leave. It asks the reader to see loyalty not as feeling but as a deliberate choice made under pressure to do otherwise.
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 Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:
Cross-references
- 2 Samuel 15:21 But Ittai answered the king, “As surely as the LORD lives, and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king may be, whether it means life or death, there will your servant be!”
- Ruth 2:11 Boaz replied, “I have been made fully aware of all you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, how you left your father and mother and the land of your birth, and how you came to a people you did not know before.
- 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 45:10 Listen, O daughter! Consider and incline your ear: Forget your people and your father’s house,
- Matthew 8:19 And one of the scribes came to Him and said, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.”
- John 13:37 “Lord,” said Peter, “why can’t I follow You now? I will lay down my life for You.”
- 1 Thessalonians 1:9 For they themselves report what kind of welcome you gave us, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God
- Isaiah 14:1 For the LORD will have compassion on Jacob; once again He will choose Israel and settle them in their own land. The foreigner will join them and unite with the house of Jacob.
- Acts 21:13 Then Paul answered, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”
- 2 Corinthians 6:16 What agreement can exist between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people.”