Greek word · G4503
Ῥούθ
routh
Ruth
A personal name from Hebrew Rut (רוּת). Its meaning is uncertain: 'friendship/companion' and 'refreshment' are both proposed, and neither is secure.
Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).
In depth
- Range of meaning
A personal name from Hebrew Rut (רוּת). Its meaning is uncertain: 'friendship/companion' and 'refreshment' are both proposed, and neither is secure.
- Against the English
Every version has 'Ruth'. No difference.
- Used elsewhere in the period
The book of Ruth repeatedly calls her 'the Moabite' (1:22; 2:2, 21; 4:5, 10), and the book ends with the very genealogy Matthew follows here (Ruth 4:18–22). Deut 23:3 bars Moabites from 'the assembly of the LORD' to the tenth generation. Later rabbis resolved the tension by reading the law as applying to Moabite men, not women (Mishnah, Yevamot 8:3). Boaz praises her 'kindness' or loyalty (ḥesed, Ruth 3:10) and calls her an 'eshet ḥayil', a woman of strength and worth (3:11).
Where it appears
Matthew · 1
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Matthew 1:5 Ῥούθ· Ruth;
Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse,
Here: The Moabite widow whose loyalty to Naomi and to Israel's God is the subject of the book of Ruth. Moab was a people the Law of Moses kept out of Israel's assembly (Deut 23:3). Yet David descends from her.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.