Ruth 1:21

21 I went [away] full, but Yahweh brought me back empty-handed! Why call me Naomi {when Yahweh has testified against me}[a] and Shaddai[b] has brought calamity upon me?"

Ruth 1:21 Meaning and Commentary

Ruth 1:21

I went out full
Of my husband and children, as the Targum; of children and riches, as Aben Ezra and Jarchi; wherefore some Jewish writers blame her and her husband for going abroad at such a time, and ascribe it to a covetous disposition, and an unwillingness to relieve the poor that came to them in their distress, and therefore got out of the way of them, on account of which they were punished, so Jarchi on ( Ruth 1:1 ) , see ( Judges 2:15 ) but this is said without any just cause or reason that appears:

and the Lord hath brought me home again empty:
deprived of her husband, children, and substance; she acknowledges the hand of God in it, and seems not to murmur at it, but to submit to it quietly, and bear it patiently:

why then call ye me Naomi;
when there is nothing pleasant and agreeable in me, nor in my circumstances:

seeing the Almighty hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath
afflicted me?
had bore witness that that was not a name suitable for her; or that she had sinned, and had not done what was well pleasing in his sight, as appeared by his afflicting her; she seemed therefore to be humbled under a sense of sin, and to consider afflictions as coming from the Lord on account of it, and submitted to his sovereign will; the affliction she means was the loss of her husband, children, and substance; see ( Job 10:17 ) ( 16:8 ) .

Ruth 1:21 In-Context

19 [So] the two of them went until they came to Bethlehem. {And when they came} to Bethlehem, all of the town was stirred because of them. And they said, "[Is] this Naomi?"
20 And she said to them, "You should not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for Shaddai has {caused me to be very bitter}.
21 I went [away] full, but Yahweh brought me back empty-handed! Why call me Naomi {when Yahweh has testified against me} and Shaddai has brought calamity upon me?"
22 So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabite her daughter-in-law with her, returning from the countryside of Moab. And they came [to] Bethlehem at [the] beginning of [the] harvest of barley.

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. Literally "and Yahweh answered against me"
  • [b]. Often translated "the Almighty"
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.