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 the LORD is gone out against me.

RUTH 1:13KJV
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Ruth 1:13 (KJV)

What does Ruth 1:13 mean?

Naomi tells her widowed daughters-in-law, Ruth and Orpah, that they cannot reasonably wait for her to provide new husbands for them. She urges them to leave her because she sees her own losses as the LORD’s hand turned against her.

The word behind “would ye stay” is עגן (agan), meaning to hold back or restrain oneself. Naomi is asking whether they would keep themselves from marrying while waiting for sons she has only imagined having. In the preceding verse, she had supposed that she might marry that very night and bear sons; her questions here show how impossible that solution would be.

The Hebrew behind Ruth 1:13

  • “tarry” — שׂבר (savar); “grown” — גדל (gadal): “Tarry” means to wait with hope or expectation. “Grown” means to become grown or mature. Naomi pictures Ruth and Orpah waiting through an entire childhood for hypothetical sons to reach marriageable age. Both questions expect the answer “No.”

  • “grieveth” — מרר (marar); “much” — מאד (me’od): The first word expresses bitterness; the second intensifies it. Naomi describes her situation as deeply bitter. The wording translated “for your sakes” can also be understood as “more than you”: either her bitterness concerns their plight, or she regards her own plight as even more bitter than theirs. The Hebrew permits both readings.

  • “hand” — יד (yad); “LORD” — יהוה (YHWH); “out” — יצא (yatsa): “Hand” represents power in action. “LORD” represents God’s personal name, and “out” belongs to the expression “has gone out against me.” Naomi understands her bereavement as the LORD’s power acting against her.

Why Ruth 1:13 matters

  • Naomi’s questions close off an imagined solution. She is not offering future sons as husbands; she is explaining why Ruth and Orpah cannot build their future around that possibility.

  • Her refusal remains affectionate. “Nay, my daughters” addresses the two women as family even as Naomi urges them to seek husbands elsewhere.

  • The final words explain Naomi’s reasoning. “For” connects her appeal with her belief that the LORD has acted against her: Naomi sees herself as unable to offer them a secure future.

Where else these words appear

“tarry” Hebrew H7663 · used in 8 verses

  • Nehemiah 2:13 And I went out by night by the gate of the valley, even before the dragon well, and to the dung port, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and the gates thereof were consumed with fire.
  • Esther 9:1 Now in the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king's commandment and his decree drew near to be put in execution, in the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them,(though it was turned to the contrary, that the Jews had rule over them that hated them;)
  • Psalms 119:166 LORD, I have hoped for thy salvation, and done thy commandments.

“grieveth” Hebrew H4843 · used in 15 verses

  • Genesis 49:23 The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him:
  • 1 Samuel 30:6 And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.
  • Isaiah 38:17 Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.

“grown” Hebrew H1431 · used in 112 verses

  • Genesis 12:2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
  • 1 Chronicles 22:5 And David said, Solomon my son is young and tender, and the house that is to be builded for the LORD must be exceeding magnifical, of fame and of glory throughout all countries: I will therefore now make preparation for it. So David prepared abundantly before his death.
  • Isaiah 23:4 Be thou ashamed, O Zidon: for the sea hath spoken, even the strength of the sea, saying, I travail not, nor bring forth children, neither do I nourish up young men, nor bring up virgins.