Home › Glossary › Letter R

Rut

Biblical
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

The Moabite woman who remained loyal to her mother-in-law Naomi, becoming an ancestor of King David.

Detailed Definition
Rut, a Moabite widow, chose to follow Naomi to Israel, declaring, “Where you go, I will go,” and became the great-grandmother of David. In poetry, Rut symbolizes radical loyalty, foreign grace, and the quiet power of love that transcends lineage and land—embodying redemption through fidelity.
Example
Example in poetry:
Rut appears in Langston Hughes’ allusions to loyalty across race and nation; In a modern poem: “Rut left her gods for Naomi’s road—/ Love’s covenant in foreign mode”; In elegiac verse: “Like Rut, I glean in fields not mine, / Yet hope blooms where your kindness signs”; Poets use her to celebrate immigrant resilience: “She spoke Moabite, but lived as kin—/ Rut’s choice made Israel’s story begin”; Her vow inspires wedding poetry: “Where you go, I will go”—Rut’s pledge echoes in vows of enduring love.
Additional Notes
Rut’s loyalty to Naomi—“Where you go, I will go”—is one of the most powerful vows in Scripture, transcending ethnicity, religion, and gender. In poetry, she symbolizes radical allegiance, immigrant resilience, and the quiet power of love that redefines kinship. Her Moabite origin makes her a figure of inclusion, challenging Israel’s purity laws and foreshadowing Christ’s universal mission. Poets use her to explore themes of belonging, cultural hybridity, and redemptive loyalty. Her story is ideal for wedding poetry, diaspora verse, or poems on adoption and chosen family. She is not a passive figure but an agent of covenant—her name echoes in every act of love that defies borders.
Also Known As
furrow
Skip to main content