Ruth
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The central character in the Book of Ruth. A Moabitess, she married one of the sons of Elimelech and Naomi of Bethlehem in the course of that Judahite family's sojourn in Moab. When Naomi decided after the death of her husband and her sons to return to Bethlehem, Ruth insisted on accompanying her and adopting her God and her people as her own. Exercising the right of the poor to gather the grain which falls to the ground in the course of the harvest (Lev 19:9-10; 23:22), she met Boaz, the owner of the field in which she was gleaning. He married her, and she bore him a son named Obed, the father of Jesse, the father of King David (Ruth 4:17). Hence she appears also in the NT in Matthew 1:5 as an ancestress of Jesus.
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In the Bible, a Moabite widow who left home with her mother-in-law and went to Bethlehem, where she later married Boaz.
[Hebrew or Moabite Rût.]
The great-grandmother of King David, known for her kindness and faithfulness. Not an Israelite herself, she married an Israelite who had come to her country with his family. Ruth's husband died, and her mother-in-law, Naomi, set out to return to the country of the Israelites. Ruth insisted on accompanying Naomi, saying, “ Whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge.” In the country of the Israelites, Ruth married Boaz, a rich relative of her dead husband; Boaz had been attracted to Ruth by her generosity. Her story is told in the Book of Ruth in the Old Testament.
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Bible Dictionary and Concordance
Illustrated Dictionary & Concordance of the Bible. Copyright © 1986 by G.G. The Jerusalem Publishing House, Ltd. All rights reserved.
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American Heritage Dictionary
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Dictionary of Cultural Literacy: Bible
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Edited by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved. Read more
