What Does Ruth 1:12 Mean in the King James?

Turn again, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have an husband. If I should say, I have hope, if I should have an husband also to night, and should also bear sons;

Ruth 1:12 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The Hebrew word for hope also names a cord, so Naomi asks whether any line still connects her present to a future.

THE MEANING

When the future seems to depend on events your body or circumstances cannot supply, hope can feel impossible. Naomi names the limit plainly: a husband, then sons, then a future for her daughters. The verse lets grief speak at full strength without promising that every desired outcome will arrive.

THE ROOT

תִּקְוָה

tiqvah

GROWS FROM

קוה

q-w-h

To wait for, look toward, or expect.

The Hebrew word translated “hope,” tiqvah (⁨תִּקְוָה⁩), comes from qavah (⁨קָוָה⁩), to wait for or expect; tiqvah can also mean a cord or line. Naomi tests that line against the future she can imagine, husband, then sons, and says she sees no way from her present to that future.

ALSO GROWS

qavah: To wait for, look toward, or expect.

קָוָה

This verb appears in Isaiah 40:31 as “wait”; hope carries the sense of waiting toward what is not yet present.

tiqvah: Hope or expectation; also a cord or line.

תִּקְוָה

Joshua 2:18 uses this same word for the scarlet line in Rahab’s window, giving expectation the image of a line held across uncertainty.

THE PATTERN

Hope reaches toward a future not yet visible while present limits remain real.

But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Isaiah 40:31 · KJVThe Hebrew word for “wait” shares the root of Naomi’s word for “hope,” showing expectation as something held through time.

And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee.

Psalm 39:7 · KJVHope here is directed toward what is still awaited, rather than treated as a condition already seen.

For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?

Romans 8:24 · KJVThe verse locates hope precisely where the outcome is not yet visible.

THE THREAD

Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father’s household, home unto thee.

Joshua 2:18 · KJV

The Hebrew word translated “hope” in Ruth is the same word used for the scarlet line in Rahab’s window. That shared word lets hope appear as a line held across danger, while Naomi names the future she cannot see a way to reach.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us