Ruth 1:9-11
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
9 (A)May the Lord guide each of you to find a husband and a home in which you will be at rest.” She kissed them good-bye, but they wept aloud, 10 crying, “No! We will go back with you, to your people.” 11 Naomi replied, “Go back, my daughters. Why come with me? Have I other sons in my womb who could become your husbands?[a]
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- 1:11 Other sons…husbands: a reference to a customary practice known from Dt 25:5–10, levirate marriage, which assigns responsibility to the brother-in-law to produce heirs in order to perpetuate the name and hold the patrimonial land of a man who died childless. How far the responsibility extended beyond blood brothers is unclear; cf. Gn 38:8 and the upcoming scene in Ru 4:5–6. Naomi imagines the impossible: were she to have more sons they could take Ruth and Orpah as their wives.
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