Ruth 2:20 Explained

"And Naomi said unto her daughter in law, Blessed be he of the LORD, who hath not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead. And Naomi said unto her, The man is near of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen." — Ruth 2:20 (KJV)

The first time in the book that Naomi says anything hopeful, and it is triggered by a name.

Read it in context: The Book of Ruth. Also gathered under verses about kindness.

Ruth 2:20 in context

What does Ruth 2:20 mean?

'Kindness' is chesed, the covenant word for loyal love that keeps obligations nobody could enforce. Naomi uses it of God and of Boaz in one breath, deliberately blurring which she means. 'Next kinsman' is the goel, the relative legally entitled to redeem land and family — a technical term that carries the whole plot. Hope arrives here as a piece of legal information, not a feeling.

What is the context of Ruth 2:20?

Naomi returned to Bethlehem telling the town to call her Mara, bitter, because the Almighty had dealt bitterly with her. Ruth has been gleaning and comes home with far too much grain and the name of the field's owner. This is the reaction.

How do I pray Ruth 2:20?

Give thanks for a piece of ordinary good news — an appointment, a name, an opening — before you know what it will come to. Naomi does not have the ending yet. And note where the kindness of God appears in this book: almost entirely through the ordinary decency of one man.

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