Amsal 18:24

18:24 A person who has friends ¹  may be harmed by them, ² 

but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Amsal 19:7

19:7 All the relatives ³  of a poor person hate him; ⁴ 

how much more do his friends avoid him –

he pursues them ⁵  with words, but they do not respond. ⁶ 

Rut 1:16

1:16 But Ruth replied,

“Stop urging me to abandon you! ⁷ 

For wherever you go, I will go.

Wherever you live, I will live.

Your people will become my people,

and your God will become my God.

Rut 1:1

A Family Tragedy: Famine and Death

1:1 During the time of the judges ⁸  there was a famine in the land of Judah. ⁹  So a man from Bethlehem ¹⁰  in Judah went to live as a resident foreigner ¹¹  in the region of Moab, along with his wife and two sons. ¹² 

1 Samuel 18:3

18:3 Jonathan made a covenant with David, for he loved him as much as he did his own life. ¹³ 

1 Samuel 19:2

19:2 So Jonathan told David, “My father Saul is trying ¹⁴  to kill you. So be careful tomorrow morning. Find ¹⁵  a hiding place and stay in seclusion. ¹⁶ 

1 Samuel 20:17

20:17 Jonathan once again took an oath with David, because he loved him. In fact Jonathan loved him as much as he did his own life. ¹⁷ 

1 Samuel 23:16

23:16 Then Jonathan son of Saul left and went to David at Horesh. He encouraged him ¹⁸  through God.

1 Samuel 23:2

23:2 So David asked the Lord, “Should I go and strike down these Philistines?” The Lord said to David, “Go, strike down the Philistines and deliver Keilah.”

1 Samuel 1:26

1:26 She said, “Just as surely as you are alive, my lord, I am the woman who previously stood here with you in order to pray to the Lord.

1 Samuel 9:1-13

Samuel Meets with Saul

9:1 There was a Benjaminite man named Kish son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Becorath, the son of Aphiah of Benjamin. He was a prominent person. 9:2 He had a son named Saul, a handsome young man. There was no one among the Israelites more handsome than he was; he stood head and shoulders above all the people.

9:3 The donkeys of Saul’s father Kish wandered off, ¹⁹  so Kish said to his son Saul, “Take one of the servants with you and go ²⁰  look for the donkeys.” ²¹  9:4 So Saul ²²  crossed through the hill country of Ephraim, passing through the land of Shalisha, but they did not find them. So they crossed through the land of Shaalim, but they were not there. Then he crossed through the land of Benjamin, and still they did not find them.

9:5 When they came to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant who was with him, “Come on, let’s head back before my father quits worrying about the donkeys and becomes anxious about us!” 9:6 But the servant said to him, “Look, there is a man of God in this town. He is highly respected. Everything that he says really happens. ²³  Now let’s go there. Perhaps he will tell us where we should go from here.” ²⁴  9:7 So Saul said to his servant, “All right, ²⁵  we can go. But what can we bring the man, since the food in our bags is used up? We have no gift to take to the man of God. What do we have?” 9:8 The servant went on to answer Saul, “Look, I happen to have in my hand a quarter shekel ²⁶  of silver. I will give it to the man of God and he will tell us where we should go.” ²⁷  9:9 (Now it used to be in Israel that whenever someone went to inquire of God he would say, “Come on, let’s go to the seer.” For today’s prophet used to be called a seer.) 9:10 So Saul said to his servant, “That’s a good idea! ²⁸  Come on. Let’s go.” So they went to the town where the man of God was.

9:11 As they were going up the ascent to the town, they met some girls coming out to draw water. They said to them, “Is this where the seer is?” 9:12 They replied, “Yes, straight ahead! But hurry now, for he came to the town today, and the people are making a sacrifice at the high place. 9:13 When you enter the town, you can find him before he goes up to the high place to eat. The people won’t eat until he arrives, for he must bless the sacrifice. Once that happens, those who have been invited will eat. Now go on up, for ²⁹  this is the time when you can find him!”

Ester 4:14

4:14 “Don’t imagine that because you are part of the king’s household you will be the one Jew ³⁰  who will escape. If you keep quiet at this time, liberation and protection for the Jews will appear ³¹  from another source, ³²  while you and your father’s household perish. It may very well be ³³  that you have achieved royal status ³⁴  for such a time as this!”

Yohanes 15:13-14

15:13 No one has greater love than this – that one lays down his life ³⁵  for his friends. 15:14 You are my friends ³⁶  if you do what I command you.

Ibrani 2:11

2:11 For indeed he who makes holy and those being made holy all have the same origin, ³⁷  and so ³⁸  he is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters, ³⁹ 

[18:24]  ¹ tc The construction is “a man of friends” (cf. NASB) meaning a man who has friends (a genitive of the thing possessed). C. H. Toy, however, suggests reading יֵשׁ (yesh) instead of אִישׁ (’ish), along with some of the Greek mss, the Syriac, and Tg. Prov 18:24. It would then say “there are friends” who are unreliable (Proverbs [ICC], 366); cf. NLT. However, the MT should be retained here.

[18:24]  ² tn The text simply has לְהִתְרֹעֵעַ (lÿhitro’ea’), which means “for being crushed” or “to be shattered” (but not “to show oneself friendly” as in the KJV). What can be made of the sentence is that “a man who has [many] friends [may have them] for being crushed” – the infinitive giving the result (i.e., “with the result that he may be crushed by them”).

[19:7]  ³ tn Heb “brothers,” but not limited only to male siblings in this context.

[19:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “hate him.” The verb שָׂנֵא (sane’) may be nuanced “reject” here (metonymy of effect, cf. CEV). The kind of “dislike” or “hatred” family members show to a poor relative is to have nothing to do with him (NIV “is shunned”). If relatives do this, how much more will the poor person’s friends do so.

[19:7]  ⁵ tn The direct object “them” does not appear in the Hebrew but is supplied in the translation for the sake of smoothness.

[19:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “not they.” The last line of the verse is problematic. The preceding two lines are loosely synonymous in their parallelism, but the third adds something like: “he pursues [them with] words, but they [do] not [respond].” Some simply say it is a corrupt remnant of a separate proverb and beyond restoration. The basic idea does make sense, though. The idea of his family and friends rejecting the poor person reveals how superficial they are, and how they make themselves scarce. Since they are far off, he has to look for them “with words” (adverbial accusative), that is, “send word” for help. But they “are nowhere to be found” (so NIV). The LXX reads “will not be delivered” in place of “not they” – clearly an attempt to make sense out of the cryptic phrase, and, in the process, showing evidence for that text.

[1:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “do not urge me to abandon you to turn back from after you.” Most English versions, following the lead of the KJV, use “leave” here. The use of עזב (“abandon”) reflects Ruth’s perspective. To return to Moab would be to abandon Naomi and to leave her even more vulnerable than she already is.

[1:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “in the days of the judging of the judges.” The LXX simply reads “when the judges judged,” and Syriac has “in the days of the judges.” Cf. NASB “in the days when the judges governed (ruled NRSV).”

[1:1]  sn Many interpreters, reading this statement in the light of the Book of Judges which describes a morally corrupt period, assume that the narrator is painting a dark backdrop against which Ruth’s exemplary character and actions will shine even more brightly. However, others read this statement in the light of the book’s concluding epilogue which traces the full significance of the story to the time of David, the chosen king of Judah (4:18-22).

[1:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “in the land.” The phrase “of Judah” is supplied in the translation to clarify the referent.

[1:1]  ¹⁰ sn The name Bethlehem (בֵּית לֶחֶם, bet lekhem) is from “house, place” (בֵּית) and “bread, food” (לֶחֶם), so the name literally means “House of Bread” or “Place of Food.” Perhaps there is irony here: One would not expect a severe famine in such a location. This would not necessarily indicate that Bethlehem was under divine discipline, but merely that the famine was very severe, explaining the reason for the family’s departure.

[1:1]  map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.

[1:1]  ¹¹ tn Or “to live temporarily.” The verb גּוּר (gur, “sojourn”) may refer to (1) temporary dwelling in a location (Deut 18:6; Judg 17:7) or (2) permanent dwelling in a location (Judg 5:17; Ps 33:8). When used of a foreign land, it can refer to (1) temporary dwelling as a visiting foreigner (Gen 12:10; 20:1; 21:34; 2 Kgs 8:1-2; Jer 44:14) or (2) permanent dwelling as a resident foreigner (Gen 47:4; Exod 6:4; Num 15:14; Deut 26:5; 2 Sam 4:3; Jer 49:18,33; 50:40; Ezek 47:22-23). Although Naomi eventually returned to Judah, there is some ambiguity whether or not Elimelech intended the move to make them permanent resident foreigners. Cf. NASB “to sojourn” and NIV “to live for a while,” both of which imply the move was temporary, while “to live” (NCV, NRSV, NLT) is more neutral about the permanence of the relocation.

[1:1]  sn Some interpreters view Elimelech’s departure from Judah to sojourn in Moab as lack of faith in the covenant God of Israel to provide for his family’s needs in the land of promise; therefore his death is consequently viewed as divine judgment. Others note that God never prohibited his people from seeking food in a foreign land during times of famine but actually sent his people to a foreign land during a famine in Canaan on at least one occasion as an act of deliverance (Gen 37-50). In this case, Elimelech’s sojourn to Moab was an understandable act by a man concerned for the survival of his family, perhaps even under divine approval, so their death in Moab was simply a tragedy, a bad thing that happened to a godly person.

[1:1]  ¹² tn Heb “he and his wife and his two sons.” The LXX omits “two.”

[18:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “like his [own] soul.”

[19:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “seeking.”

[19:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “stay in.”

[19:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and hide yourself.”

[20:17]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “for [with] the love of his [own] life he loved him.”

[23:16]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “strengthened his hand.”

[9:3]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “became lost.”

[9:3]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and arise, go.”

[9:3]  ²¹ tc The Syriac Peshitta includes the following words: “So Saul arose and went out. He took with him one of the boys and went out to look for his father’s donkeys.”

[9:4]  ²² tn Heb “he”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:6]  ²³ tn The infinitive absolute precedes the verb for emphasis.

[9:6]  ²⁴ tn Heb “our way on which we have gone.”

[9:7]  ²⁵ tn Heb “look.”

[9:8]  ²⁶ sn A quarter shekel of silver would weigh about a tenth of an ounce (about 3 grams).

[9:8]  ²⁷ tn Heb “our way.”

[9:10]  ²⁸ tn Heb “your word is good.”

[9:13]  ²⁹ tc The MT has “him” (אֹתוֹ, ’oto) here, in addition to the “him” at the end of the verse. The ancient versions attest to only one occurrence of the pronoun, although it is possible that this is due to translation technique rather than to their having a Hebrew text with the pronoun used only once. The present translation assumes textual duplication in the MT and does not attempt to represent the pronoun twice. However, for a defense of the MT here, with the suggested translation “for him just now – you will find him,” see S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 72-73.

[4:14]  ³⁰ tn Heb “from all the Jews”; KJV “more than all the Jews”; NIV “you alone of all the Jews.”

[4:14]  ³¹ tn Heb “stand”; KJV, NASB, NIV, NLT “arise.”

[4:14]  ³² tn Heb “place” (so KJV, NIV, NLT); NRSV “from another quarter.” This is probably an oblique reference to help coming from God. D. J. A. Clines disagrees; in his view a contrast between deliverance by Esther and deliverance by God is inappropriate (Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther [NCBC], 302). But Clines’ suggestion that perhaps the reference is to deliverance by Jewish officials or by armed Jewish revolt is less attractive than seeing this veiled reference as part of the literary strategy of the book, which deliberately keeps God’s providential dealings entirely in the background.

[4:14]  ³³ tn Heb “And who knows whether” (so NASB). The question is one of hope, but free of presumption. Cf. Jonah 3:9.

[4:14]  ³⁴ tn Heb “have come to the kingdom”; NRSV “to royal dignity”; NIV “to royal position”; NLT “have been elevated to the palace.”

[15:13]  ³⁵ tn Or “one dies willingly.”

[15:14]  ³⁶ sn This verse really explains John 15:10 in another way. Those who keep Jesus’ commandments are called his friends, those friends for whom he lays down his life (v. 13). It is possible to understand this verse as referring to a smaller group within Christianity as a whole, perhaps only the apostles who were present when Jesus spoke these words. Some have supported this by comparing it to the small group of associates and advisers to the Roman Emperor who were called “Friends of the Emperor.” Others would see these words as addressed only to those Christians who as disciples were obedient to Jesus. In either case the result would be to create a sort of “inner circle” of Christians who are more privileged than mere “believers” or average Christians. In context, it seems clear that Jesus’ words must be addressed to all true Christians, not just some narrower category of believers, because Jesus’ sacrificial death, which is his act of love toward his friends (v. 13) applies to all Christians equally (cf. John 13:1).

[2:11]  ³⁷ tn Grk “are all from one.”

[2:11]  ³⁸ tn Grk “for which reason.”

[2:11]  ³⁹ tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited). The context here also indicates both men and women are in view; note especially the collective τὰ παιδία (ta paidia) in v. 14.