Meaning Hebrew of contested etymology; traditionally interpreted as "friend" or "companion."
Figure Moabite ancestor of David and Jesus; book of Ruth.
Traditions CATHOLICORTHODOXANGLICANPROTESTANT
In the Christian tradition
Ruth is the Moabite woman whose loyalty to her mother-in-law Naomi and whose eventual marriage to Boaz make her an ancestor of David and of Jesus through David. Her statement "Where you go, I will go" (Ruth 1:16) is among the most-cited verses in Christian weddings. The book of Ruth is read in Christian and Jewish tradition as a model of providence and redemption.
The book of Ruth is one of the shortest in the Old Testament canon, but its place in the biblical narrative is significant. Ruth is a Moabite, a foreigner, and yet she enters the line of David and ultimately the genealogy of Jesus (Matthew 1:5). Her statement of loyalty to Naomi ("Where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God," Ruth 1:16) is read in Christian weddings as a statement of conversion and commitment. The book is read in its entirety during the Jewish feast of Shavuot and is the principal short book in Christian devotional reading; the name has been in continuous Christian use, with particular popularity in English-speaking Protestant families.