What Does Ruth 4:11 Mean in the King James?
And all the people that were in the gate, and the elders, said, We are witnesses. The LORD make the woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel: and do thou worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Beth-lehem:
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The woman is blessed as a builder of Israel’s house, while the community gives her future a public name in Bethlehem, the house of bread.
THE MEANING
The blessing sees you as more than someone placed inside a household: your life can help build a people. The community witnesses that contribution, while the LORD’s gift places it within a future that carries a name. Bethlehem’s name, “house of bread,” joins that future to provision and belonging.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that a woman entering a household only receives its legacy; here she is named among the builders of a people.
THE ROOT
בָּנוּ
banu
GROWS FROM
בנה
banah
To build, establish, or construct.
“build” in this verse is banu. The verse says Rachel and Leah built the house of Israel, making family and peoplehood acts of building. The word holds together the house being formed and the lives that form it.
ALSO GROWS
binyan: Building, structure.
בִּנְיָן
The structure is more than a dwelling: the verse calls a people a house that can be built.
nivnah: Was built, was established.
נִבְנָה
This form shows a house as something that can be formed through the lives gathered into it.
חַיִל
chayil
GROWS FROM
חיל
ch-y-l
Strength, capacity, valor; also might or wealth.
“Worthily” carries the sense of strength and capacity, not merely respectable conduct. The blessing recognizes the woman’s ability as part of what builds a people.
ALSO GROWS
chayil: Strength, valor, capacity.
חַיִל
This is the word behind “worthily,” so the blessing names active strength rather than passive respectability.
eshet chayil: Woman of valor or capacity.
אֵשֶׁת־חַיִל
This phrase connects the verse’s “worthily” to a woman whose strength is recognized as consequential.
יִתֵּן
yitten
GROWS FROM
נתן
natan
To give, set, or place.
“make” in this verse is yitten. יִתֵּן (yitten, “may he give or place”) presents the LORD’s action as granting the woman a place in this lineage. The closing phrase וּקְרָא־שֵׁם (uqra-shem, “and call a name”) makes fame a spoken naming: שֵׁם (shem, “name as nature”) carries character into public memory. Bethlehem, בֵּית לֶחֶם (Beit-Lechem, “house of bread”), makes that future sound like provision taking root in a house.
ALSO GROWS
natan: To give, set, or place.
נָתַן
The root clarifies the blessing’s “make”: the woman is granted a place within a people’s story.
mattanah: Gift.
מַתָּנָה
The same root makes the requested place in the household legible as something given.
THE PATTERN
A people is built through lives joined in a household, while its lasting form rests in the LORD’s gift.
Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.A Song of degrees for Solomon. Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.THE THREAD
And now, my daughter, fear not; I will do to thee all that thou requirest: for all the city of my people doth know that thou art a virtuous woman.The same חַיִל (chayil, “valor or capacity”) appears here as “virtuous woman” and in Ruth 4:11 as “worthily.” The blessing connects that strength to building a household and a people, so “worthily” carries a whole life rather than mere decorum.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us