He shall be to you a restorer of life and sustain you in your old age; for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.”
Parallel Translations
-
He shall be to you a restorer of life and sustain you in your old age; for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.”
-
And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life, and a nourisher of thine old age: for thy daughter in law, which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons, hath born him.
-
And he shall be unto thee a restorer of life, and a nourisher of thine old age; for thy daughter-in-law, who loveth thee, who is better to thee than seven sons, hath borne him.'
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (2)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (8)
Passages linked to Ruth 4:15 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Isaiah 46:4 Even to old age I am he, and even to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear. Yes, I will carry, and will deliver.
- Psalms 55:22 Cast your burden on Yahweh and he will sustain you. He will never allow the righteous to be moved.
- Genesis 45:11 There I will provide for you; for there are yet five years of famine; lest you come to poverty, you, and your household, and all that you have.” ’
- Ruth 2:11-12 Boaz answered her, “I have been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you have left your father, your mother, and the land of your birth, and have come to a people that you didn’t know before. May Yahweh repay your work, and a full reward be given to you from Yahweh, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”
- Genesis 47:12 Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and all of his father’s household with bread, according to the sizes of their families.
- 1 Samuel 1:8 Elkanah her husband said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep? Why don’t you eat? Why is your heart grieved? Am I not better to you than ten sons?”
- Proverbs 18:24 A man of many companions may be ruined, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
- Ruth 1:16-18 Ruth said, “Don’t urge me to leave you, and to return from following you, for where you go, I will go; and where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May Yahweh do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts you and me.” When Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Meaning, many sons.
Meaning, many sons.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Rth 4:15 And he shall be unto thee a…
Rth 4:15 And he shall be unto thee a restorer of [thy] life, and a nourisher of thine old age: for thy daughter in law, which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons, hath born him.
Ver. 15. And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life.] A joyless life is a lifeless life. Mortis habet vices quae trahitur vita gemitibus. Such had been Naomi’s life for a long while, till now that God had raised her up a restorer. "Now we live," &c. {1Th 3:8}
Read full note →
And a nourisher of thine old age.] Children should nourish their old parents, and supply their wants, αντι πελαργων. Storks and mice feed their dams when old: boughs incline and bend down toward the root; and in summer, receiving from the root leaves, flowers, and fruit, they let them fall again in winter, to the fatting and nourishing of the root. Unkind and unnatural children are like kites, {bird of prey} which, when grown strong, expel their dams, and with their bills and wings beat them out of the nest.
For thy daughter-in-law, which loveth thee … hath born him.] And it is to be hoped that he will not degenerate, or grow out of kind: for partus sequitur ventrem, the birth followeth the belly, as the proverb is.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain A restorer of thy life, i.e. of the comfort…
A restorer of thy life, i.e. of the comfort of thy life, which was in a great measure dead and gone.
Hath born him, to wit, a son; the pronoun for the noun understood, which is frequent in the Hebrew tongue. Or, hath born to him, i.e. to thy kinsman, to wit, a son, which is easily understood; and so the pronoun affix is put for the separate; of which there are instances; as Jos 15:19; 1Ki 19:21; Job 31:37; Eze 29:3.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And he shall be unto thee a restorer of…
And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life,.... Of the joys, pleasures, and comforts of it, which she had been deprived of through the death of her husband and her two sons, ever since which she had lived a sorrowful life; all the comfort she had was from her daughter-in-law, and now a grandchild being born to her of her would be a means of restoring comfort to her mourning sorrowful spirit, and give her pleasure in those years in which she did not expect any:
and a nourisher of thine old age; that would when grown up feed her, support her, and supply her with all necessaries of life, being heir to a large and rich estate:
Read full note →
for thy daughter in law which loveth thee; Ruth the wife of Boaz, who had shown her love, in leaving her own country and kindred, to come along with her into a strange land, and who had laboured for her support in it, and still retained the same affection for her:
which is better to thee than seven sons, hath borne him: either which had been so in the time of her widowhood, as the Targum; or rather which was so now, being the wife of so rich a person, and having now brought forth a son, heir to the estate, who would be more capable of doing for her than if she had seven sons living, having no other than their paternal estate.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Thy life - That is, of the comfort of…
Thy life - That is, of the comfort of thy life. Born him - Or, hath born to him; that is, to thy kinsman a son. Better than seven sons - See how God sometimes makes up the want of those relations from whom we expected most comfort, in those from whom we expected least! The bonds of love prove stronger than those of nature.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Rth 4:15. A restorer of thy life — Of…
Rth 4:15. A restorer of thy life — Of the comfort of thy life, such a comfort as to make thee, in some sort, young again. For they hoped the child would inherit his mother’s virtues, and particularly her affection to Naomi, which was so surpassing, that it made her a greater blessing to her than a great many children of her own body would have been. Better than seven sons — See how God sometimes makes up the want of those relations from whom we expected most comfort, in those from whom we expected least! The bonds of love prove stronger than those of nature.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Comfort. Hebrew, "to make thy soul revive."
Comfort. Hebrew, "to make thy soul revive."
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 15. He shall be — That is, the child…
15. He shall be — That is, the child shall be. Boaz was the goel or redeemer of Ruth but the child Obed was the goel of the aged Naomi.
Restorer of thy life — He shall make thee feel the glow of youthful life and joy again.
Read full note →
A nourisher of thine old age — A source of comfort, since the birth of this son would take away the reproach of childlessness from her husband’s family.
Better… than seven sons — Because through Ruth “the loss of her own sons had been supplied in her old age, and the prospect was now presented to her of becoming in her childless old age the tribe-mother of a numerous and flourishing family.” — Keil. “It would seem as if there was already a kind of joyous foretaste of the birth and infancy which, in aftertimes, was to be forever associated with the name of Beth-lehem.” — Stanley.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 15. better to thee than seven sons] Ruth has…
15. better to thee than seven sons] Ruth has proved it by her piety towards the dead and the living. Seven is a round number, cf. 1Sa_1:8.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (15) A nourisher.—(See marginal renderings).
(15) A nourisher.—(See marginal renderings).
Daughter-in-law.—The position of the nominative is emphatic.
Read full note →
Loveth.—The verb is a perfect, which hath ever loved thee.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain And may he be to thee a restorer of…
And may he be to thee a restorer of life, and for the support of thine old age: for thy daughter-in-law, who loved thee, hath borne him, and she is better to thee than seven sons. The number seven suggested an idea of fullness, completeness, perfection. The whole inhabitants of the city knew that Ruth"s love to her mother-in-law had been indeed transcendent, and also that it had been transcendently returned.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 4:15 care for you in your old age (literally…
4:15 care for you in your old age (literally cause your old age to be full): With the birth of Obed, Naomi’s life was full again (cp. 1:21).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.