Ruth 1:12 (DRB)

Passage

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,

Nearby Context

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.

Ruth 1:14 And they lifted up their voice, and began to weep again: Orpha kissed her mother in law, and returned: Ruth stuck close to her mother in law.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "return", "again", "daughters", "ways", "spent", "wedlock", "although", and "might". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "return" and "again", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 11's "But she answered them Return my daughters..." into verse 13's "If you would wait till they were...", so "return" and "again" 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 "return" and "again" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.