Ruth 1:16–17
Ruth to Naomi: where you go, I will go
Study it word by word16But Ruth said, “Do not press me to abandon you, to turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you spend the night, I will spend the night. Your people is my people, and your Elohim is my Elohim.
17Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. So may YHWH do to me, and so may he add, if anything but death separates me and you.”
In its context
14They lifted up their voice and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.
15And she said, “Look, your sister-in-law has returned to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.”
…
18When she saw that she was determined to go with her, she stopped speaking to her.
19So the two of them went until they came to Bethlehem. And it happened, when they came to Bethlehem, that the whole city was stirred because of them, and they said, “Is this Naomi?”
Its words in the original
- תֹּאמֶרtomer· say
Say, speak. The most common verb for bringing in what someone says; sometimes "think" (say to oneself) or "command".
- רוּתrut· Ruth
Ruth, a Moabite woman, wife of Mahlon and later of Boaz; great-grandmother of King David (Ruth 4:17) and named among the ancestors of Jesus (Matthew 1:5). The name may mean "friend" or "companion."
- תִּפְגְּעִיtifgi· meet, intercede
Meet someone, come upon; also fall upon (attack). With "for me", intercede: speak to another on someone's behalf.
- עָזְבֵazve· leave, forsake
Leave, forsake, abandon; also let go, leave behind for someone.
- שׁוּבshuv· return, turn back
Turn back, return. Also turn away; in the causative form, bring back, give back, answer. Figuratively, turn back to God (change course). Often adverbial: "again".
- תֵּלְכִיtelchi· go, walk
Go, walk, depart; in the causative form, lead or bring.
- תָּלִינִיtalini· spend the night
Spend the night, lodge; stay. A word with the same letters means "grumble".
- עַמֵּame· people
People: a human group joined by kinship, history and destiny. "My people", said by God, is Israel. Also the people as a crowd, or troops.
- אלֹהַיִlohayi· Elohim, God, gods
The Hebrew word usually translated "God". This translation keeps "Elohim" when it speaks of the one true God, the Creator, the God of Israel. The word ends like a plural, but it does not mean several: for him the verb is singular ("Elohim created"); the plural form expresses greatness. The same word as a common noun names the "gods" of other peoples, and there it is a true plural, translated "gods". It is also used of mighty ones or judges.
- תָּמוּתִיtamuti· die
Die. In the causative form, kill, put to death. Hebrew can repeat the verb for emphasis ("dying you will die" = "you will surely die").
- אֶקָּבֵרekaver· bury
Bury.
- יַעֲשֶׂהyaase· do, make
Do, make, in the widest sense: build, produce, carry out, keep (a command), prepare.
- יְהוָהyehva· YHWH
The personal name of the God of Israel, written in Hebrew with four letters, Y-H-W-H, without vowels. Out of reverence Jews stopped pronouncing it and read "Adonai" (Lord), so many Bibles put "the LORD" or "Jehovah". This translation keeps the four letters. The name is related to the verb "to be" (Exodus 3:14-15). He is not a god other than Elohim: "YHWH Elohim" is the same Creator God, called by his name.
- יֹסִיףyosif· add, do again
Add; do again, keep doing.
- מָּוֶתmavet· death
Death; also the realm of the dead, or a deadly plague.
- יַפְרִידyafrid· separate
Separate, part, be divided; spread out.