Books of the Bible

The Book of Ruth

Old Testament · History · Genre: Narrative · Author: Not named in the text; author unknown · Chapters: 4

Ruth is a tender story of loyalty and redemption set in the dark days of the judges. A widowed foreigner named Ruth clings to her grieving mother-in-law Naomi and to Naomi's God, and finds a home, a husband, and, unknown to her, a place in the family line of King David and of the Messiah.

Start reading: Ruth chapter 1

A key verse

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:Ruth 1:16 (KJV)

The setting and background of Ruth

Ruth is a short narrative set, as its opening line says, in the days when the judges ruled, offering a quiet and hopeful counterpoint to the chaos of the book of Judges. It is named for its central figure, a Moabite widow whose loyalty and faith carry the story, and it is one of only two biblical books named for a woman. The book does not name its author, who is unknown, and it was evidently written after the time of David, whose genealogy it supplies.

The book is a masterpiece of storytelling, unfolding in four brief scenes: the loss and return of Naomi, Ruth gleaning in the field of Boaz, the appeal to Boaz as kinsman-redeemer, and the marriage and the birth of a son. Its beauty lies in its ordinariness, for it contains no miracles or great battles, only the working out of God's providence through faithful people and everyday kindness.

Ruth was written in part to trace the ancestry of King David, revealing that his line ran through a faithful foreign woman welcomed into the people of God. It celebrates covenant loyalty, God's care for the vulnerable, and the surprising breadth of his grace. In the sweep of Scripture, Ruth appears in the genealogy of Jesus himself, an early sign that the Saviour comes as the hope of all peoples, not one nation only.

The story and structure of Ruth

Ruth opens in famine and loss. A man of Bethlehem takes his wife Naomi and their two sons to Moab, where the sons marry Moabite women, and then, one by one, all three men die. Naomi is left in a foreign land with two widowed daughters-in-law and no means of support, emptied of everything she once had.

When Naomi resolves to return home, she urges the younger women to stay in Moab, but Ruth refuses to leave her, pledging in words treasured ever since that Naomi's people will be her people and Naomi's God her God. This vow of loyal, covenant love, made by an outsider, sets the whole story in motion.

Back in Bethlehem at the barley harvest, Ruth goes out to glean in the fields, gathering the leftovers the law reserved for the poor and the stranger. She happens onto the field of Boaz, a relative of Naomi's late husband, a man of standing and kindness, who notices her, protects her, and shows her generous favor.

Guided by Naomi, Ruth appeals to Boaz as a kinsman-redeemer, a relative who by law could rescue a family in need by marrying the widow and restoring the family line and property. Boaz gladly takes up the role, settling the matter honorably at the town gate, and marries Ruth, lifting both women from emptiness to fullness.

The short book ends with the birth of a son, Obed, who becomes a comfort to Naomi and, the closing genealogy quietly reveals, the grandfather of King David. What looked like a small, private story of loss and kindness turns out to be a link in the great chain of God's redemption of the world.

The great themes of Ruth

Key passages in Ruth

Ruth in the sweep of Scripture

Ruth is a small book with a large place in the Bible's story. Set against the chaos of Judges, it shows that even in a faithless age God is quietly at work through faithful people. Its ending, tracing the line to David, connects it to the great promises about the coming king, and Ruth herself is named in the genealogy of Jesus in the New Testament. The book stands as evidence that God weaves the losses and loyalties of ordinary lives into the grand tapestry of salvation, and that the outsider is welcomed into his family.

Where Christ is in Ruth

Boaz, the kinsman-redeemer who takes a poor foreign widow as his own and restores her future, is a beautiful picture of Jesus, our Redeemer, who takes the outsider and the empty-handed into his family at great cost to himself. And Ruth, a Moabite grafted into Israel and placed in the ancestry of Christ, shows that from the beginning God intended the Saviour to be the hope of all peoples, not one nation only.

How to read Ruth well

Read Ruth in one sitting and let its quiet grace assure you that God is at work even in your losses, weaving the hardest seasons into good purposes you cannot yet see. Let Ruth's loyal love and Boaz's generous kindness shape your own relationships, and let Naomi's journey from emptiness to fullness give you hope when life has left you bitter. Above all, see in the kinsman-redeemer a foretaste of Christ, and rejoice that his family has room for the outsider.

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