Ruth 1:8

8 And Naomi saith to her two daughters-in-law, `Go, turn back, each to the house of her mother; Jehovah doth with you kindness as ye have done with the dead, and with me;

Ruth 1:8 Meaning and Commentary

Ruth 1:8

And Naomi said to her two daughters in law
When they were come, as it is very probable, to the utmost limits of the land of Moab, and to the borders of the land of Israel:

go, return each unto her mother's house:
the mother's house is mentioned, and not the father's, not because they had no father living; for it is certain Ruth had a father as well as a mother, ( Ruth 2:11 ) but because mothers are most affectionate to their daughters, and they most conversant together; and because women in those times had apartments to themselves, and who used to take their daughters to them when become widows; though such was the strong love of those young widows to their mother-in-law, that they chose rather to dwell with her, while she lived in Moab, than with their own mothers:

the Lord deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and with
me;
that is, with their husbands, who were dead; as the Targum is, that they refused to marry men after their death; or rather it respects their affectionate care of their husbands, and behaviour towards them when living, as well as the respect they showed to their memory, at and since their death; and also their filial duty to her, both before and since; and particularly, as the Targum expresses it, in that they had fed and supported her.

Ruth 1:8 In-Context

6 And she riseth, she and her daughters-in-law, and turneth back from the fields of Moab, for she hath heard in the fields of Moab that God hath looked after His people, -- to give to them bread.

7 And she goeth out from the place where she hath been, and her two daughters-in-law with her, and they go in the way to turn back unto the land of Judah.

8 And Naomi saith to her two daughters-in-law, `Go, turn back, each to the house of her mother; Jehovah doth with you kindness as ye have done with the dead, and with me;

9 Jehovah doth grant to you, and find ye rest each in the house of her husband;' and she kisseth them, and they lift up their voice and weep.

10 And they say to her, `Surely with thee we go back to thy people.'