Ruth 1:16

16 And Ruth answered, Be thou not against me, that I forsake thee, and go away; whither ever thou shalt go, I shall go, and where thou shalt dwell, I shall dwell together (with thee); thy people is my people, and thy God is my God; (And Ruth answered, Be thou not against me, that I should desert thee, and go away from thee; wherever thou shalt go, I shall go, and where thou shalt live, I shall live with thee; thy people is my people, and thy God is my God;)

Ruth 1:16 Meaning and Commentary

Ruth 1:16

And Ruth said, entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from
following after thee
Do not make use of any arguments to persuade me to go back: or "do not meet me", or "be against me" ^F8; do not meet me with objections, or be in my way, or an hinderance to me, in going along with thee; do not be against it, for to be against that was to be against her inclination, desires, and resolutions, and against her interest:

for whither thou goest I will go:
let the country she was going to be what it would, though unknown to her, and though she should never see her own country any more:

and where thou lodgest I will lodge;
though in ever so mean a cottage, or under the open air:

thy people shall be my people;
whom I shall choose to dwell among, and converse with; whose religion, laws, and customs she should readily comply with, having heard much of them, their wisdom, goodness, and piety, of which she had a specimen and an example in Naomi, and by whom she judged of the rest:

and thy God my God;
not Chemosh, nor Baalpeor, nor other gods of the Moabites, be they what they will, but Jehovah, the God of Naomi, and of the people of Israel. So a soul that is truly brought to Christ affectionately loves him, and heartily cleaves unto him, resolves in the strength of divine grace to follow him, the Lamb, whithersoever he goes or directs; and is desirous to have communion with none but him, and that he also would not be as a wayfaring man, that tarries but a night; his people are the excellent of the earth, whom to converse with is all his delight and pleasure; and Christ's God is his God, and his Father is his Father: and, in a word, he determines to have no other Saviour but him, and to walk in all his commands and ordinances.

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FOOTNOTES:

F8 (yb yegpt le) "ne occurras mihi", Vatablus, Rambachius; "ne obstes me", Tigurine version; "ne adverseris mihi", V. L. Drusius; so Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

Ruth 1:16 In-Context

14 Therefore, when the voice was raised (up), again they began to weep. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, and turned again, and Ruth abode with her mother-in-law (And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, and returned home, but Ruth stayed with her mother-in-law).

15 To whom Naomi said, Lo! thy kinswoman turned again to her people, and to her gods; go thou with her.

16 And Ruth answered, Be thou not against me, that I forsake thee, and go away; whither ever thou shalt go, I shall go, and where thou shalt dwell, I shall dwell together (with thee); thy people is my people, and thy God is my God; (And Ruth answered, Be thou not against me, that I should desert thee, and go away from thee; wherever thou shalt go, I shall go, and where thou shalt live, I shall live with thee; thy people is my people, and thy God is my God;)

17 what land shall receive thee dying, I shall die therein also, and there I shall take place of burying; God do to me these things, and add these things, if death alone shall not part me and thee. (whatever land shall receive thee when thou diest, I shall die there also, and that shall be the place where I am buried; yea, God do to me terrible things, and add other things as well, if anything but death separate me and thee.)

18 Therefore Naomi saw, that Ruth had deemed with steadfast soul to go with her, and she would not be against her, neither counsel further turning again to her countrymen (and so she would not be against her, nor further counsel her to return to her own people).