Ruth 1:21
“I went out full, and the LORD hath brought me home again empty: why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the LORD hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me?”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →Naomi laments that she left full but the Lord has brought her back empty and afflicted.
What Does Ruth 1:21 Mean?
Naomi sums up her sorrow in a single aching contrast: I went out full, and the LORD hath brought me home again empty. She left Bethlehem with a husband and two sons; she returns with neither. She lays her emptiness squarely before the Lord, feeling that He has testified against her and that the Almighty has afflicted her. Her grief is total, and she names God as the author of it.
Yet even in this lament there is a thread of unbroken faith: Naomi keeps speaking to and about the Lord. She has not let go of Him; she clings to Him even while feeling His heavy hand. And the reader notices what Naomi overlooks, she is not truly empty, for Ruth stands beside her, the very one through whom God will fill her again. Often we feel emptiest at the moment our deliverance is already at hand. The God Naomi calls afflicter is, unknown to her, her quiet provider, and harvest is just beginning.