- 1 Ruth 1 1 Famine, migration, bereavement, return, and covenantal loyalty are bound together here in the severe but foundational opening of Ruth. It begins in the days of the judges with a famine in the land, yet instead of national warfare it narrows immediately to one household from Bethlehem of Judah that goes to sojourn in the fields of Moab. What follows is a progressive stripping away. Elimelech dies, the sons marry Moabite women, and after about ten years both sons die as well, leaving Naomi without husband and without sons. The opening movement therefore places the book under the sign of emptiness and residue. A family that left Bethlehem for survival is reduced to a widowed mother and her widowed daughters-in-law in foreign territory. Yet Ruth 1 does not remain only a movement of loss. The report that YHWH has visited his people to give them bread turns Naomi toward home, and on the road the narrative becomes a testing ground of fidelity. Orpah's return is not vilified, but Ruth's refusal to leave Naomi becomes the moral and theological center of the book. Ruth binds herself not only to Naomi's person but to Naomi's people, God, land, and grave, so that her loyalty becomes covenant-shaped rather than merely affectionate. By the time the women arrive in Bethlehem, Naomi names herself through bitterness and emptiness, but the narrative refuses to end there without a counterpoint. They come at the beginning of barley harvest. It therefore joins domestic catastrophe, hard theological speech, costly female loyalty, and the first quiet signal of providential provision into a chapter where return begins in sorrow but not without hope.
- 2 Ruth 2 2 Ruth 2 (23 verses in the MT) opens: And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech; and his name Boaz. The middle of the chapter continues: YHWH recompense your work, and a full reward be given you of YHWH God of Israel, under whose wings you are come to trust. It closes: So she kept fast by the maidens of Boaz to glean to the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest; and dwelt with her mother in law.
- 3 Ruth 3 3 Ruth 3 (18 verses in the MT) opens: Then Naomi her mother in law said to her, My daughter, shall I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you? The middle of the chapter continues: And he said, Blessed you of YHWH, my daughter: you have shewed more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning, inasmuch as you followedst not young men, whether poor or rich. It closes: Then said she, Sit still, my daughter, until you know how the matter will fall: for the man will not be in rest, until he have finished the thing this day.
- 4 Ruth 4 4 Ruth 4 (22 verses in the MT) opens: Then went Boaz up to the gate, and sat him down there: and, behold, the kinsman of whom Boaz spake came by; to whom he said, Ho, such a one! turn aside, sit down here. And he turned aside, and sat down. The middle of the chapter continues: And let your house be like the house of Pharez, whom Tamar bare to Judah, of the seed which YHWH shall give you of this young woman. It closes: And Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David.