Ruth's Vow: Where You Go I Will Go (Ruth 1:16-17)
Ruth 1:16-17 · Berean Standard Bible
"Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God." The widowed Ruth speaks these words of fierce devotion to her mother-in-law Naomi, refusing to abandon her. Ruth 1:16-17 is one of Scripture's most beautiful pledges of loyalty — often read at weddings, though its origin is the bond between two grieving women.
16But Ruth replied: “Do not urge me to leave you or to turn from following you. For wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you live, I will live; your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.
17Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD punish me, and ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.”
Read the wider context: Ruth 1.
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Related passages
- As for Me and My House (Joshua 24:14-15) — Joshua 24:14-15
- David and Jonathan's Covenant Friendship (1 Samuel 18:1-4) — 1 Samuel 18:1-4
- Ruth Meets Boaz (Ruth 2:1-12) — Ruth 2:1-12
- The Story of Naomi and Ruth — Loss, Bitterness, and Unbreakable Loyalty (Ruth 1) — Ruth 1:1-22