Picture description: Ruth
Picture copyright: Antonio
No consideration for others
Ruth is one of the ancestors of Jesus’s family line. Ruth and her husband originally lived in Moab, which is located in modern day Jordan. After her husband passed away, Ruth left her hometown Moab to follow her mother-in-law, Naomi, to Israel to seek a new way of life. Naomi urged Ruth to stay in her homeland Moab, but Ruth’s determination to cling to her was unwavering, “Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.” (Ruth 1:16-18) Ruth’s loyalty to her mother-in-law was unwavering, which made Ruth the model of loyalty.
While ruth is a synonym of compassion and faithfulness, ruthless is the opposite. We describe someone as ruthless when he or she has no consideration for others.
A lot of phrases, such as "two-edged sword" and " an eye for an eye", are taken from the English Bible. Learning the stories behind these idioms is fun, and can help boost your vocabulary. Click here to find out now!