The verse anchor
"Whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God."
Ruth 1:16 · King James Bible
The story
A long time ago, in the land of Israel, there was a woman named Naomi. She was married to a man named Elimelech, and they had two sons.
A famine came. The crops did not grow. So the family left their town of Bethlehem and travelled to the land of Moab, looking for food. There, the two sons grew up and married two young women — Ruth and Orpah.
Then a sad time came. Naomi's husband died. Both of her sons died. Naomi was left alone with her two daughters-in-law in a foreign land, far from home.
Naomi decided to go back to Bethlehem. She kissed Ruth and Orpah and said, "Go back to your mothers' houses. May the Lord be kind to you."
Orpah kissed Naomi and turned back. But Ruth would not go. She held on to Naomi tightly and said the beautiful words that families have remembered ever since:
"Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: where thou diest, will I die."
So Ruth and Naomi walked together back to Bethlehem — two women, no money, no husband, no home.
It was harvest time. Ruth went out into the fields to glean — to pick up the grain the reapers had left behind. She worked hard from morning to evening.
The field belonged to a good man named Boaz. He noticed Ruth and heard how kind she had been to Naomi. Boaz told his workers to leave extra grain for her on purpose. Ruth came home with more than enough.
Boaz married Ruth. God gave them a baby boy named Obed. Obed grew up and had a son named Jesse. Jesse grew up and had a son named David — who became the great king of Israel.
And many, many years later, Jesus was born in that same little town of Bethlehem — through the family line of Ruth, the young widow who would not leave the mother of her husband.
One thing we learn
Ruth chose kindness when it cost her everything. God took her kindness and wove it into the family of Jesus himself. Small kindnesses matter more than we can see.
Memory verse
"Whither thou goest, I will go… thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God."
Ruth 1:16 · KJV
Say it three times before bed. In seven days you will know it forever.
A prayer
Lord, help me to be like Ruth —
loyal to my family,
kind when it is hard,
and faithful to you.
Amen.
Beneath the story · for grown-ups
To walk further with the household: