King James Version · The judges
Ruth 1
Touch any underlined name to see who or where it is. Tap a verse number to see where it is taken up elsewhere.
Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a in the land. And a certain man of Beth–lehem–judah went to sojourn in the country of , he, and his wife, and his two sons. And the name of the man was , and the name of his wife , and the name of his two sons and , Ephrathites of Beth–lehem–judah. And they came into the country of , and continued there. And ’s husband ; and she was left, and her two sons. And they took them wives of the women of ; the name of the one was , and the name of the other : and they dwelled there about ten years. And and also both of them; and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband. Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of : for she had heard in the country of how that had visited his people in giving them bread. Wherefore she went forth out of the place where she was, and her two daughters in law with her; and they went on to return unto the land of Judah. And said unto her two daughters in law, Go, return each to her mother’s house: deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with , and with me. grant you that ye may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them; and they lifted up their voice, and wept. And they said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto thy people. And said, Turn again, my daughters: why will ye go with me? are there yet any more sons in my , that they may be your husbands? Turn again, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have an husband. If I should say, I have , if I should have an husband also to night, and should also bear sons; Would ye tarry for them till they were grown? would ye stay for them from having husbands? nay, my daughters; for it grieveth me much for your sakes that the hand of is gone out against me. And they lifted up their voice, and wept again: and kissed her mother in law; but clave unto her. And she said, Behold, thy sister in law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister in law. And 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 my : Where thou diest, will I , and there will I be buried: do so to me, and more also, if ought but part thee and me. When she saw that she was stedfastly minded to go with her, then she left speaking unto her. So they two went until they came to Beth–lehem. And it came to pass, when they were come to Beth–lehem, that all the city was moved about them, and they said, Is this ? And she said unto them, Call me not , call me : for hath dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and hath brought me home again empty: why then call ye me , seeing hath testified against me, and hath afflicted me? So returned, and the Moabitess, her daughter in law, with her, which returned out of the country of : and they came to Beth–lehem of barley harvest.
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · The judges, 1200 BC to 1050 BC ›
No central government and no standing army. The great empires are weak, which is precisely why Israel's troubles come from close neighbors: Moab, Ammon, Midian, and the newly arrived Philistines on the coast.
- Egypt
- Broken into competing power centres and no longer able to project force into Canaan. Its withdrawal is the single biggest reason this period has no imperial overlord.
- Mesopotamia
- Assyria exists but is dormant, hemmed in and looking east. The century that would have crushed a stateless Israel simply has not arrived yet.
- The coast
- The Philistines settle their five cities after arriving from the Aegean world, bringing Mycenaean-style pottery, a taste for pork, and an early advantage in ironworking. Further north the Phoenician ports of Tyre and Sidon start the trading expansion that will eventually give the alphabet to Greece.
- Further afield
- Greece has entered its dark age: the palaces are gone, Linear B is forgotten, and writing disappears from the Aegean for three centuries. In China the Zhou dynasty replaces the Shang in 1046 BC and issues the doctrine that heaven withdraws its mandate from unjust kings, an idea with an interesting resemblance to the book of Judges.