Naomi and Her Daughter, Ruth 1:16 Bible Verse Wall Art

What is painted

A dirt path runs between a gnarled olive tree on one side and fields of ripe grain on the other. Along it two women walk side by side, close enough that their shoulders nearly touch, their backs to us as they head down the road. The fields glow gold, the olive leaves are silvery green, and the sky is pale and open.

The verse is set with the landscape: “Whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge”, with the reference Ruth 1:16. The colors are soft greens and beige, the tones of a harvest afternoon.

A vow between two widows

The Book of Ruth opens with loss. Naomi, a woman of Bethlehem, has moved with her husband Elimelech and two sons to the land of Moab during a famine. There her husband dies, and then both of her sons. Naomi decides to go home and tells her two Moabite daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth, to go back to their own mothers.

Orpah kisses her and leaves. Ruth will not. Her answer is one of the most faithful promises in the Bible: she will go where Naomi goes and lodge where she lodges, and the verse continues, “thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.” She is choosing a people and a God, not only a companion.

The two women reach Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest, and the story goes on in the fields where Ruth gleans grain and meets Boaz. She becomes the great-grandmother of King David, and Matthew names her in the genealogy of Jesus.

For a wedding, a mother-in-law, a friend

Although the words were first spoken by a daughter-in-law to her mother-in-law, they are among the most popular verses for weddings, a vow of faithfulness that suits a marriage well. This print makes a meaningful wedding or anniversary gift, and an especially touching present for a mother-in-law, a stepmother or a friend who has walked with you through loss.

The golden fields also make it a warm piece for Thanksgiving. This Christian wall art is printed to order in the US on heavy archival matte paper, shipped free to US addresses and delivered unframed, in sizes from 5x7 to 24x36. A Christian poster of these two women also suits a church women's ministry room, where friendship across generations is the whole point.