Ruth 1:16 (DRB)

Passage

She answered: Be not against me, to desire that I should leave thee and depart: for whithersoever thou shalt go, I will go: and where thou shalt dwell, I also will dwell. Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.

Nearby Context

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.

Ruth 1:15 And Noemi said to her: Behold thy kinswoman is returned to her people, and to her gods, go thou with her.

Ruth 1:16 She answered: Be not against me, to desire that I should leave thee and depart: for whithersoever thou shalt go, I will go: and where thou shalt dwell, I also will dwell. Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.

Ruth 1:17 The land that shall receive thee dying, in the same will I die: and there will I be buried. The Lord do so and so to me, and add more also, if aught but death part me and thee.

Ruth 1:18 Then Noemi seeing that Ruth was steadfastly determined to go with her, would not be against it, nor persuade her any more to return to her friends:

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "answered", "against", "desire", "should", "leave", "thee", "depart", and "whithersoever". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "answered" and "against", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 15's "And Noemi said to her Behold thy..." into verse 17's "The land that shall receive thee dying...", so "answered" and "against" 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 "against" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.