1:10

and said, “Surely we will return with you to your people.”: In this verse, Orpah and Ruth told Naomi that they intended to accompany her as she returned to Bethlehem.

Here are some ways to indicate the connection of this clause to the previous clause. Any of these options is acceptable:

• Indicate that this clause talks about the next action in the story. For example:

and said to her, “No, we will return with you to your people.” (Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures)

• Indicate that Orpah and Ruth’s desire to stay with Naomi contrasts with Naomi’s intention to leave them. For example:

But they said to her, “No! We will return with you to your people.” (NET Bible)

• Leave implied the connection of this clause to the previous clause. For example:

They said to her, “No, we will return with you to your people.” (New Revised Standard Version)

Surely we will return: This phrase indicates that the daughters-in-law intend to accompany Naomi on her return to her people. The Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Surely indicates that they objected to leaving Naomi.

Here are two ways to translate this conjunction:

• Make the meaning of the conjunction explicit. For example:

“No,” they said, “We want to go with you (New Living Translation (2004))

• Leave the meaning of the conjunction implied. For example:

“We are going back with you (God’s Word)

The word return may cause confusion here. Only Naomi would actually be returning to Judah, since Orpah and Ruth had not been there before. In some languages, it may be more natural to translate this verse part differently. For example:

• Leave the word return implied. For example:

We want to go with you (Contemporary English Version)

• Translate in a way that the word return refers only to Naomi. For example:

“We will accompany you on your return

to your people: In Hebrew, the word people is very general. It could refer to Naomi’s relatives or to all the people of Israel. If your language has a word or phrase that refers to relatives, including distant relatives, you may want to use it here. For example:

to your clan
-or-
to your tribe

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