Ruth 1:6

Ruth 1:6, in plain English

Naomi hears news that God has brought the famine to an end back in Judah, so she decides to return home, and her daughters-in-law begin preparing to go with her.

Why it's here

Famine ending means there's a reason to hope, a reason to go back. The phrase 'the LORD had attended to His people' shows that despite everything Naomi has lost, God is still working in the world. She's hearing that life back home is now possible again. Even grief-stricken, she recognizes this moment as a turning point.

Who's speaking

The narrator, describing Naomi's moment of decision

Where it sits in the story

This is the pivot point. Naomi could have stayed in Moab, but instead she chooses to go back to her people and her God. That decision will lead to everything that follows.

The scholarly reading

News reaches Naomi in Moab that God has reversed the famine in Judah, prompting her to consider returning home with her daughters-in-law.

Language and setting

The phrase 'the LORD had attended to His people' (paqqad et-'ammo) employs the verb paqqad, which denotes God's active, covenantal visitation—whether for judgment or, as here, for salvation. The news of harvest reversal signals divine favor restored to Judah. Yet Naomi's decision to return is fraught: she is returning as a widow with Moabite daughters-in-law, which will complicate her reintegration into Bethlehem society.

Voice

The narrator, with Naomi as the responding subject

Significance

Naomi's decision to return marks the turning point from diaspora to homecoming, yet the return journey will paradoxically become the crucible through which Ruth's covenant commitment is tested and proved.

4who took Moabite women as their wives, one named Orpah and the other named Ruth.

5both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and without her husband.

6When Naomi heard in Moab that the LORD had attended to His people by providing them with food, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to leave the land of Moab.

7Accompanied by her two daughters-in-law, she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road leading back to the land of Judah.

8Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you to your mother’s home. May the LORD show you loving devotion, as you have shown to your dead and to me.

Read all of Ruth 1 — A small, quiet story set in chaotic times. Two widows on a road, one refusing to let go. God works here through ordinary faithfulness.