myBibleHistory

Journey of a Passage

Ruth 1:16–17

"Thy people shall be my people"

Ruth's pledge is the same in every witness checked, and the opening of the book survives in a Qumran fragment. The questions here are of translation and meaning: an oath of loyalty, or a conversion?

Stable text: no manuscript differences in meaning

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains this verse · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. Original RuthUnknown (debated)
  2. 4QRuth-a (4Q104)1st century BC (to verify)Descends, through lost copies, from Original Ruth
  3. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from Original Ruth
Greek
  1. Septuagint (library text: Giguet's French)Translated c. 2nd–1st century BCTranslated from a Hebrew text of the period
Latin
  1. Jerome's Vulgatec. AD 400Translated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

Every witness, in order

  1. Unknown (debated)

    Original Ruth

    – No copy survives

    No original survives.

  2. Translated c. 2nd–1st century BC

    Septuagint (library text: Giguet's French)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from a Hebrew text of the period

    How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

    où tu iras, j'irai; où tu demeureras, je demeurerai; ton peuple est mon peuple, ton Dieu est mon Dieu

    where you go, I will go; where you stay, I will stay; your people is my people, your God my God

    One Greek text via Giguet's French; not checked against Quast's Göttingen edition.

  3. 1st century BC (to verify)

    4QRuth-a (4Q104)

    ◐ Contains part of itDescends, through lost copies, from Original Ruth

    How the site knows this: Reported in scholarship; not checked by the site.

    Fragment 1 begins at Ruth 1:1; the Qumran-Digital transcription marks which letters survive and which are restored. Whether 1:16–17 is extant has not been checked here; reading not transcribed.

    Source: Qumran-Digital, transcription of 4Q104 (4QRuth-a), version 2025-08-25, with restorations marked ↗

  4. c. AD 400

    Jerome's Vulgate

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

    Populus tuus populus meus, et Deus tuus Deus meus

    Agrees.

  5. AD 1008

    Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from Original Ruth

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

    עַמֵּךְ עַמִּי וֵאלֹהַיִךְ אֱלֹהָי

    your people, my people; and your God, my God

    No verb: "your people [is] my people."

  6. 1611

    King James Bible

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

    thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God

    Follows the Hebrew.

What changed, and why

The Hebrew is a verbless declaration, "your people, my people," which translations render as a present ("is") or future ("shall be"). Later Jewish tradition took the scene as the model of conversion; the book itself describes an oath of allegiance, not a ritual.

What the evidence shows

Sources

Related lessons

  • The Journey and Ruth's Pledge →Naomi hears that the LORD has given his people bread and sets out for Judah. On the road she urges her daughters-in-law to go home. Orpah kisses her and returns. Ruth clings to her: where you go I will go, your people my people, your God my God.
  • How Ruth Came to Us →Who wrote Ruth, and when? Why is it among the Writings in Jewish Bibles but after Judges in Christian ones? What do the four Dead Sea Scroll copies preserve? How did the Greek translation come down, and why is Ruth read at Shavuot?