The Book of Ruth Practice Flashcards

This set of vocabulary flashcards covers key figures, terms, and customs found in the four chapters of the Book of Ruth.

Elimelech

A man of Bethlehem in Judah who went to sojourn in the country of Moab with his wife and two sons during a famine.

Naomi

The wife of Elimelech who returned to Bethlehem from Moab after the death of her husband and two sons.

Mahlon and Chilion

The two sons of Elimelech and Naomi who married Moabite wives and died in the country of Moab.

Orpah

One of Naomi's daughters-in-law who kissed her mother-in-law goodbye and returned to her people and her gods in Moab.

Ruth

The Moabite daughter-in-law who clung to Naomi and famously declared, "Your people shall be my people, and your God my God."

Mara

The name Naomi told the women of Bethlehem to call her, meaning "bitter," because the Almighty had dealt very bitterly with her.

Bethlehem

The town in Judah that was the home of Elimelech and where Naomi and Ruth arrived at the beginning of the barley harvest.

Boaz

A worthy man of the clan of Elimelech and a relative of Naomi's husband who eventually redeemed Elimelech's land and married Ruth.

Glean

To gather ears of grain in a field after the reapers have passed.

Ephah

The approximate amount of barley (about one ephah) that Ruth gleaned and beat out after her first day in the field of Boaz.

Redeemer

A close relative who has the right to buy back family property or maintain the family line; Naomi identifies Boaz as one of theirs.

Threshing floor

The location where Boaz was winnowing barley and where Ruth went at night to uncover his feet.

Winnowing

The agricultural process Boaz was performing with barley at the threshing floor on the night Ruth visited him.

Six measures of barley

The specific amount of grain Boaz measured out and gave to Ruth to take back to her mother-in-law before she left the threshing floor.

Sandal

The item used in former times in Israel to confirm a transaction; one man drew it off and gave it to the other to attest the exchange.

Ten men

The number of elders from the city that Boaz took to sit at the gate as witnesses to the redemption of the land and Ruth.

Rachel and Leah

The two women whom the elders and people at the gate invoked as building up the house of Israel.

Obed

The son born to Boaz and Ruth, who was the father of Jesse and the grandfather of David.

Perez

The ancestor whose house the elders compared Boaz's house to, born to Tamar and Judah.

Ephrathites

The specific group or clan from Bethlehem in Judah to which Elimelech and his family belonged.