Ruth 1:10

And they said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto thy people.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

1:6-14 Naomi began to think of returning, after the death of her two sons. When death comes into a family, it ought to reform what is amiss there. Earth is made bitter to us, that heaven may be made dear. Naomi seems to have been a person of faith and piety. She dismissed her daughters-in-law with prayer. It is very proper for friends, when they part, to part with them thus part in love. Did Naomi do well, to discourage her daughters from going with her, when she might save them from the idolatry of Moab, and bring them to the faith and worship of the God of Israel? Naomi, no doubt, desired to do that; but if they went with her, she would not have them to go upon her account. Those that take upon them a profession of religion only to oblige their friends, or for the sake of company, will be converts of small value. If they did come with her, she would have them make it their deliberate choice, and sit down first and count the cost, as it concerns those to do who make a profession of religion. And more desire rest in the house of a husband, or some wordly settlement or earthly satisfaction, than the rest to which Christ invites our souls; therefore when tried they will depart from Christ, though perhaps with some sorrow.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Accompanying their mother-in-law to the borders of their own land would probably be an act of Oriental courtesy. Naomi with no less courtesy presses them to return. The mention of the mother's house, which the separation of the women's house or tent from that of the men facilitates, is natural in her mouth, and has more tenderness in it than father's house would have had; it does not imply the death of their fathers Ruth 2:11.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

9. The Lord grant you that ye may find rest—enjoy a life of tranquillity, undisturbed by the cares, incumbrances, and vexatious troubles to which a state of widowhood is peculiarly exposed.

Then she kissed them—the Oriental manner when friends are parting.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And they said unto her,.... When they had eased themselves in cries and tears, and had recovered their speech:

surely we will return with thee unto thy people; to be proselyted, as the Targum; not only to dwell with them, but to worship with them.

Geneva Study Bible

And they said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto thy people.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 10. - And they said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto thy people. So King James's version. The expression in the original is broken at the commencement: "And they said to her, For with thee we shall return to thy people." It is as if they had said, "Do not insist on our return to our mothers' homes, for with thee we shall return to thy people." Note the expression, "we shall return, instead of "we shall go with thee in thy return to thy people." For the moment they identify themselves with their mother-in-law, as if they had come with her from Judah. Ruth 1:10

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

"On the way," i.e., when they had gone a part of the way, Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Go, return each one to her mother's house," - not her father's, though, according to Ruth 2:11, Ruth's father at any rate was still living, but her mother's, because maternal love knows best how to comfort a daughter in her affliction. "Jehovah grant you that ye may find a resting-place, each one in the house of her husband," i.e., that ye may both be happily married again. She then kissed them, to take leave of them (vid., Genesis 31:28). The daughters-in-law, however, began to weep aloud, and said, "We will return with thee to thy people" כּי before a direct statement serves to strengthen it, and is almost equivalent to a positive assurance.