Ruth 1:16

16. Entreat me not to leave thee Nothing in all the range of literature can surpass the beauty and tenderness of Ruth’s reply to Naomi, contained in this and the following verse. The Chaldee Paraphrase puts the passage in the following form: “And Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave and return from following after thee, for I desire to become a proselyte. Said Naomi, We are commanded to observe the Sabbath and good days, in not travelling more than two thousand cubits. Said Ruth, To every place whither thou goest I will go. Said Naomi, We are commanded not to lodge with the Gentiles. Said Ruth, Wheresoever thou lodgest I will lodge. Said Naomi, We are commanded to keep six hundred and thirteen precepts.

Said Ruth, What thy people keep I will keep, as if they were my people from of old until now. Said Naomi, We are commanded not to worship with a strange worship. Said Ruth, Thy God shall himself be my God. Said Naomi, We have four kinds of capital punishment for criminals: stoning, burning, beheading, and hanging. Said Ruth, In whatever way thou diest I will die. Said Naomi, We have a house of burial. Said Ruth, And there will I be buried.” Blessed are the human ties that lead us to God and heaven!