Ruth 1:11 (DRB)

Passage

But she answered them: Return, my daughters: why come ye with me? have I any more sons in my womb, that you may hope for husbands of me?

Nearby Context

Ruth 1:9 May he grant you to find rest in the houses of the husbands whom you shall take. And she kissed them. And they lifted up their voice, and began to weep,

Ruth 1:10 And to say: We will go on with thee to thy people.

Ruth 1:11 But she answered them: Return, my daughters: why come ye with me? have I any more sons in my womb, that you may hope for husbands of me?

Ruth 1:12 Return again, my daughters, and go your ways: for I am now spent with age, and not fit for wedlock. Although I might conceive this night, and bear children,

Ruth 1:13 If you would wait till they were grown up, and come to man's estate, you would be old women before you marry. Do not so, my daughters, I beseech you: for I am grieved the more for your distress, and the hand of the Lord is gone out against me.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "answered", "return", "daughters", "come", "sons", "womb", "hope", and "husbands". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "answered" and "return", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 10's "And to say We will go on..." into verse 12's "Return again my daughters and go your...", so "answered" and "return" belong inside that flow. In Ruth context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "answered" and "return" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.