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Contemporary English Version

Ruth 1:22

The barley harvest was just beginning when Naomi and Ruth, her Moabite daughter-in-law, arrived in Bethlehem.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Readings, Select;   Ruth;   Women;   Thompson Chain Reference - Agriculture;   Agriculture-Horticulture;   Barley;   Grain;   Harvest;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Harvest, the;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Mahlon;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Farming;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Barley;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Bethlehem;   Moabitess;   Ruth;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Barley;   Honest, Honesty;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Bethlehem ;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Certain;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Harvest;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Barley;  

Encyclopedias:

- Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia - Barley;  

Devotionals:

- Every Day Light - Devotion for July 29;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
So Naomi came back from the territory of Moab with her daughter-in-law Ruth the Moabitess. They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.
Hebrew Names Version
So Na`omi returned, and Rut the Mo'avite, her daughter-in-law, with her, who returned out of the country of Mo'av: and they came to Beit-Lechem in the beginning of barley harvest.
King James Version
So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter in law, with her, which returned out of the country of Moab: and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest.
Lexham English Bible
So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabite her daughter-in-law with her, returning from the countryside of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the harvest of barley.
English Standard Version
So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabite her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.
New Century Version
So Naomi and her daughter-in-law Ruth, the Moabite, returned from Moab and arrived at Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.
New English Translation
So Naomi returned, accompanied by her Moabite daughter-in-law Ruth, who came back with her from the region of Moab. (Now they arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.)
Amplified Bible
So Naomi returned from the country of Moab, and with her Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law. And they arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.
New American Standard Bible
So Naomi returned, and with her Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, who returned from the land of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.
Geneva Bible (1587)
So Naomi returned and Ruth the Moabitesse her daughter in law with her, when she came out of the countrey of Moab: and they came to Beth-lehem in the beginning of barly haruest.
Legacy Standard Bible
So Naomi returned, and with her Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, who returned from the fields of Moab. Now they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.
Complete Jewish Bible
This is how Na‘omi returned, with Rut the woman from Mo'av, her daughter-in-law, accompanying her from the plain of Mo'av. They arrived in Beit-Lechem at the beginning of the barley harvest.
Darby Translation
So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her, who returned out of the fields of Moab; and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of the barley-harvest.
Easy-to-Read Version
So Naomi and her daughter-in-law Ruth, the Moabite, came back from the hill country of Moab. These two women came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.
George Lamsa Translation
So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her, for she was wholeheartedly willing to return with her, and they came from the land of Moab at the beginning of the barley harvest.
Good News Translation
This, then, was how Naomi came back from Moab with Ruth, her Moabite daughter-in-law. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the barley harvest was just beginning.
Literal Translation
And Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the fields of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
It was aboute the tyme of the begynninge of the barlye haruest, whan Naemi and his sonnes wife Ruth ye Moabitysse, came agayne from the londe of the Moabites vnto Bethleem.
American Standard Version
So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her, who returned out of the country of Moab: and they came to Beth-lehem in the beginning of barley harvest.
Bible in Basic English
So Naomi came back out of the country of Moab, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her; and they came to Beth-lehem in the first days of the grain-cutting.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And so Naomi with Ruth the Moabitesse her daughter in lawe, returned out of the countrey of Moab, and came to Bethlehe, in the beginning of barlie haruest.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her, who returned out of the field of Moab--and they came to Beth-lehem in the beginning of barley harvest.
King James Version (1611)
So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitesse her daughter in law with her, which returned out of the countrey of Moab: and they came to Bethlehem, in the beginning of barley haruest.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
So Noemin and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, returned from the country of Moab; and they came to Bethleem in the beginning of barley harvest.
English Revised Version
So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter in law, with her, which returned out of the country of Moab: and they came to Beth-lehem in the beginning of barley harvest.
Berean Standard Bible
So Naomi returned from the land of Moab with her daughter-in-law Ruth the Moabitess. And they arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Therfor Noemy cam with Ruth of Moab, `the wijf of hir sone, fro the lond of hir pilgrimage, and turnede ayen in to Bethleem, whanne barli was ropun first.
Young's Literal Translation
And Naomi turneth back, and Ruth the Moabitess her daughter-in-law with her, who hath turned back from the fields of Moab, and they have come in to Beth-Lehem at the commencement of barley-harvest.
Update Bible Version
So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her, who returned out of the country of Moab: and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest.
Webster's Bible Translation
So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab: and they came to Beth-lehem in the beginning of barley-harvest.
World English Bible
So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her, who returned out of the country of Moab: and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest.
New King James Version
So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab. Now they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.
New Living Translation
So Naomi returned from Moab, accompanied by her daughter-in-law Ruth, the young Moabite woman. They arrived in Bethlehem in late spring, at the beginning of the barley harvest.
New Life Bible
So Naomi returned. And her daughter-in-law Ruth, the Moabite woman, returned with her from the land of Moab. They came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley gathering time.
New Revised Standard
So Naomi returned together with Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, who came back with her from the country of Moab. They came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her, who returned out of the country of Moab, - and, they, entered Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest.
Douay-Rheims Bible
So Noemi came with Ruth, the Moabitess, her daughter in law, from the land of her sojournment: and returned into Bethlehem, in the beginning of the barley harvest.
Revised Standard Version
So Na'omi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.
THE MESSAGE
And so Naomi was back, and Ruth the foreigner with her, back from the country of Moab. They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
So Naomi returned, and with her Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, who returned from the land of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.

Contextual Overview

19 They reached Bethlehem, and the whole town was excited to see them. The women who lived there asked, "Can this really be Naomi?" 20 Then she told them, "Don't call me Naomi any longer! Call me Mara, because God has made my life bitter. 21 I had everything when I left, but the Lord has brought me back with nothing. How can you still call me Naomi, when God has turned against me and made my life so hard?" 22 The barley harvest was just beginning when Naomi and Ruth, her Moabite daughter-in-law, arrived in Bethlehem.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

in the beginning: At the beginning of Spring; for the barley harvest began immediately after the passover, and that festival was held on the 15th of Nisan, corresponding nearly with our March Ruth 2:23, Exodus 9:31, Exodus 9:32, 2 Samuel 21:9

Reciprocal: Ruth 2:6 - It is the Matthew 1:5 - Booz

Cross-References

Genesis 1:13
Evening came and then morning—that was the third day.
Genesis 1:14

The Fourth Day

God said, "I command lights to appear in the sky and to separate day from night and to show the time for seasons, special days, and years.
Genesis 1:28
God gave them his blessing and said: Have a lot of children! Fill the earth with people and bring it under your control. Rule over the fish in the ocean, the birds in the sky, and every animal on the earth.
Genesis 8:17
Let out the birds, animals, and reptiles, so they can mate and live all over the earth."
Genesis 9:1
God said to Noah and his sons: I am giving you my blessing. Have a lot of children and grandchildren, so people will live everywhere on this earth.
Genesis 30:27
But Laban told him, "If you really are my friend, stay on, and I'll pay whatever you ask. I'm sure the Lord has blessed me because of you."
Genesis 30:30
You didn't have much before I came, but the Lord has blessed everything I have ever done for you. Now it's time for me to start looking out for my own family.
Leviticus 26:9
I will treat you with such kindness that your nation will grow strong, and I will also keep my promises to you.
Job 40:15
I created both you and the hippopotamus. It eats only grass like an ox,
Job 42:12
The Lord now blessed Job more than ever; he gave him fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand pair of oxen, and a thousand donkeys.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

So Naomi returned,.... Aben, Ezra thinks this is to be understood of her returning at another time; but it is only an observation of the writer of this history, to excite the attention of the reader to this remarkable event, and particularly to what follows:

and Ruth the Moabitess her daughter in law with her, which returned out of the country of Moab; to Bethlehem, the birth place of the Messiah, and who was to spring from her a Gentile; and which, that it might be the more carefully remarked, she is called a Moabitess, and said to return out of the country of Moab:

and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest; which began on the second day of the feast of unleavened bread, on the "sixteenth" of Nisan, which answers to our March, and part of April, when they offered the sheaf of the firstfruits to the Lord, and then, and not till then, might they begin their harvest, :-,

:-: hence the Targum here is,

"they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the day of the passover, and on that day the children of Israel began to reap the wave sheaf, which was of barley.''

So the Egyptians and Phoenicians, near neighbours of the Jews, went about cutting down their barley as soon as the cuckoo was heard, which was the same time of the year; hence the comedian n calls that bird the king of Egypt and Phoenicia. This circumstance is observed for the sake of the following account in the next chapter.

n Aristoph. in Avibus, p. 565.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Ruth 1:22. In the beginning of barley harvest. — This was in the beginning of spring, for the barley harvest began immediately after the passover, and that feast was held on the 15th of the month Nisan, which corresponds nearly with our March.

The Targum says, "They came to Beth-lehem on that day in which the children of Israel began to mow the sheaf of barley which was to be waved before the Lord." This circumstance is the more distinctly marked, because of Ruth's gleaning, mentioned in the succeeding chapter.

1. THE native, the amiable simplicity, in which the story of the preceding chapter is told, is a proof of its genuineness. There are several sympathetic circumstances recorded here which no forger could have invented. There is too much of nature to admit any thing of art.

2. On the marriage of Orpah and Ruth, and the wish of Naomi that they might find rest in the house of their husbands, there are some pious and sensible observations in Mr. NESS'S History and Mystery of the Book of Ruth, from which I shall lay the following extract before my readers: -

"A married estate is a state of rest; so it is called here, and in Ruth 3:1. Hence marriage is called portus juventutis, the port or haven of young people; whose affections, while unmarried, are continually floating or tossed to and fro, like a ship upon the waters, till they come into this happy harbour. There is a natural propension in most persons towards nuptial communion, as all created beings have a natural tendency towards their proper centre, (leve sursum, et grave deorsum,) and are restless out of it, so the rabbins say, Requiret vir costam suam, et requiret femina sedem suam, 'The man is restless while he misses his rib that was taken out of his side; and the woman is restless till she get under the man's arm, from whence she was taken.' O! look up to God then, ye unmarried ones, and cry with good Naomi, The Lord grant me rest for my roving affections in the house of some good consort, that I may live in peace and plenty, with content and comfort all my days. Know that your marriage is, of all your civil affairs, of the greatest importance, having an influence upon your whole life. It is either your making or marring in this world; 'tis like a stratagem in war, wherein a miscarriage cannot be recalled when we will, for we marry for life. I am thine, and thou art mine, brevis quidem cantiuncula est, 'is a short song;' sed longum habet epiphonema, 'but it hath a long undersong.' So an error here is irrecoverable; you have need of Argus's hundred eyes to look withal before you leap."

This is good advice; but who among the persons concerned will have grace enough to take it?


 
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