Ruth 1:13
“Would ye tarry for them till they were grown? would ye stay for them from having husbands? nay, my daughters; for it grieveth me much for your sakes that the hand of the LORD is gone out against me.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →Naomi releases them firmly, grieved that the Lord's hand seems turned against her.
What Does Ruth 1:13 Mean?
Naomi finishes her argument: even if she could bear sons, would these women wait years for boys to grow up? It is unthinkable. With a firm nay, my daughters, she closes the door on their following her. Then she names the wound beneath it all: the hand of the LORD is gone out against me. She reads her losses as God's own dealing, and it grieves her most for their sakes, not her own.
Naomi's theology here is raw and honest. She does not curse God or deny Him; she wrestles with Him, certain that He is sovereign even over her sorrow. Scripture lets her say it without rushing to correct her. There is room in faith for lament, for telling God exactly how His hand has felt. What Naomi cannot yet see is that the same hand she feels as affliction is the hand that will gather, provide, and redeem. The God she half-blames is the God already bending her story toward joy.
In the Original Language
yad (יָד), 'hand' — a figure for God's power and active dealing, here felt by Naomi as the weight of His providence.