Last Updated on December 17, 2023 by Kittredge Cherry

Naomi and Ruth by Katy Miles-Wallace

Love between women is honored in the lives of Biblical figures Ruth and Naomi. The two women are an inspiration for lesbians and the whole LGBTQ community.

Ruth’s famous vows to Naomi are often used in weddings — heterosexual as well as same-sex marriages. Few people realize that these beautiful promises were originally spoken by one woman to another:

“Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.”
(Ruth 1:16-17)

Ruth and Naomi have joined halos in portraits by Katy Miles-Wallace (at the top of this post) and Kelly Latimore.

Ruth and Naomi by Kelly Latimore

“Ruth and Naomi” by Kelly Latimore, 2022

The old-fashioned King James translation, still beloved by many, begins, “Whither thou goest, I will go…” The story is written in Hebrew in the Hebrew scriptures, also known as the Old Testament.

There are no wedding ceremonies in the Bible, so the same-sex vows between Ruth and Naomi and David and Jonathan provide the best Biblical models for wedding vows.

Churches honor her as Righteous Ruth, Ruth the Matriarch, Ruth of Moab or Ruth or the Holy Foremother.  Orthodox churches commemorate Ruth along with others on the Sunday of the Holy Genealogy, which falls on the Sunday between Dec. 11-17.  Her feast date is July 16 in the Lutheran church and Nov. 1 in the Catholic tradition.

Ruth and Naomi from ChristianImageSource.com

Were Ruth and Naomi lesbians? It is impossible to know the reality of their relationship. The same Hebrew word (dabaq) is used to describe Adam’s feelings for Eve and Ruth’s feelings for Naomi. In Genesis 2:24 it says, “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” The way that Adam “cleaved” to Eve is the way that Ruth “clung” to Naomi. Countless couples have validated this interpretation by using their vows as a model for how spouses should love each other. Because of her heterosexual marriages, Ruth may also be considered bisexual.

A billboard featuring Ruth and Naomi is part of the Would Jesus Discriminate project sponsored by Metropolitan Community Churches. It states boldly, “Ruth loved Naomi as Adam loved Eve. Genesis 2:24. Ruth 1:14.” The website WouldJesusDiscriminate.org gave a detailed explanation. For more info on the billboards, see the previous post, “Billboards show gay-friendly Jesus.”

Ruth and Naomi billboard from from WouldJesusDiscriminate.org

Ruth and Naomi in the Bible

Ruth was part of a Moabite pagan family before she married the son of a Judean couple living in Moab.  In Judaism she is honored as a convert.  Naomi was the mother-in-law of both Ruth and Orpah. After their husbands died, Naomi urged both of them to return to their families and remarry. But Ruth refused, declaring her love in words that have extra meaning for LGBTQ people because they were spoken between women.

Ruth stuck with Naomi, and they moved to Bethlehem, where Ruth married the Jewish man Boaz.  Their son, Obed, became the grandfather of King David, whose same-sex love relationship with Jonathan is seen as a role model among LGBTQ people of faith.

Ruth and Naomi by Evelyn De Morgan

“Naomi and Ruth by Evelyn de Morgan, 1887 (Wikipedia)

The Bible story ends there, so there is no record of their relationship as they aged or whether Ruth fulfilled the second part of her vow to Naomi: “Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried.” An ancient building identified as the tomb of Ruth and Boaz is located in Hebron, a Palestinian city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem.

Ruth is an ancestor of Jesus Christ, listed in his genealogy in the gospel of Matthew. It reports mostly a male lineage, and Ruth is one of only five women who are included.  (The others are Tamar, Rahab, the “wife of Uriah” (Bathsheba) and Mary.)

Lesbian interpretations of Ruth and Naomi

The openly lesbian interpretation dates back at least to 1937, when the novel “Pity for Women” by Helen Anderson was published. The two main characters, Ann and Judith, recite Ruth’s famous vow to show their commitment as a lesbian couple.

book Queer GospelQueer Gospel: An Alternative Telling Of The Bible” by Riley Alerton reimagines the Bible with “the good queens Ruth and Naomi of Lesbos” helping exiled heteros.  The novel is on Q Spirit’s list of the top LGBTQ Christian books of 2022.

Ruth and Naomi also play a role in the award-winning 1971 lesbian historical novel “Patience and Sarah” by Isabel Miller. In 19th-century New England, love blossoms between Patience, an educated painter of Bible scenes, and cross-dressing farmer Sarah. The first picture that Patience paints when they move in together is the embrace of Biblical women Ruth and Naomi.

Contemporary Christian singer-songwriter Marsha Stevens used their vow as the basis for the song she wrote for her legal wedding to Cindy Pino: “Wherever You Go.” She sings about how Cindy grew up feeling alone as “a guest at every wedding, an extra place at meals,” with nobody recognizing her lesbian relationships as family. But the mood shifts after a chorus with Ruth’s vow to Naomi :

Now we stand on sacred ground, our families near,
Law allows these holy vows, your home is here.

“Wherever You Go” is available for listening and download at BALM (Born Again Lesbian Music) Ministries: http://balmministries.net/track/323379/wherever-you-go

Ruth and Naomi in art

Ruth and Naomi share a rainbow halo in an icon created in 2017 by queer Lutheran artist and seminarian Katy Miles-Wallace as part of her “Queer Saints” series. It appears at the top of this post. The series presents traditional saints with queer qualities and heroes of the LGBTQ community.

The icons are rooted in queer theology and in Miles-Wallace’s eclectic faith journey that began at a Baptist church in Texas and led to study at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley, California. She drew many of them on the altar of a seminary chapel. For more info, see the Q Spirit article “New icons of Queer Saints created by artist Katy Miles-Wallace.” The icons may be available as prints, jewelry and more at the Queerly Christian Zazzle shop.

Ruth and Naomi share golden halos in a 2022 icon by Kelly Latimore. He is known for painting innovative icons of unlikely contemporary saints such as Stonewall saint and trans activist Marsha P. Johnson and the migrant family in his best-known work “Refugees: La Sagrada Familia.” He began painting icons in 2011 while he was a member of the Common Friars, an Episcopal monastic community in Athens, Ohio.

Enjoy a selection of Bible illustrations that celebrate the love between these two women of spirit. If you look closely, it sometimes seems that they are about to kiss.

Ruth and Naomi 1907 Bible card

The previous two images are details from larger scenes that show Orpah leaving while Ruth stays with Naomi.

Ruth clings to Naomi (ChristianImageSource.com)
Ruth and Naomi by Jan Haen

As Orpah leaves, Ruth tells Naomi, “Do not press me to leave you” in an illustration from the book “Heavenly Homos, Etc.: Queer Icons from LGBTQ Life, Religion, and History” by Jan Haen.

Ruth and Naomi 1815 Blomfield's Impartial Expositor and Family Bible

Ruth makes a vow to Naomi in an engraving from the 1815 book “Impartial Expositor and Family Bible” by Ezekiel Blomfield, published by Brightly and Childs. An original was available from Sandtique Rare Prints.

 

“Naomi and Her Daughters-in-Law” from Doré’s English Bible, 1866 (Wikimedia Commons)
“Ruth and Naomi” by Brandon Buehring

Artist Brandon Buehring included Ruth and Naomi in his “Legendary Love: A Queer History Project.” He uses pencil sketches and essays “to remind queer people and our allies of our sacred birthright as healers, educators, truth-tellers, spiritual leaders, warriors and artists.” The project features 20 sketches of queer historical and mythological figures from many cultures around the world. He has a M.Ed. degree in counseling with an LGBT emphasis from North Carolina State University in Raleigh. He works in higher education administration as well as being a freelance illustrator based in Northampton, Massachusetts.

Ruth and Naomi icon

An icon of Ruth and Naomi appears on prayer cards expressing non-traditional family commitment and love. Used to be available from the Silver Crow shop on Etsy.

Ruth and Naomi’s love has been illustrated by many artists, including the great English Romantic painter William Blake.

“Naomi entreating Ruth and Orpah to return to the land of Moab” by William Blake, 1795 (Wikimedia Commons)
Ruth, Naomi and Obed by Solomon Simeon

Ruth and Naomi share a loving moment with each other and Naomi’s baby son Obed in an 1860 drawing by Simeon Solomon, 1860. (Wikimedia Commons)

The hardships experienced by Ruth and Naomi are often overshadowed by their famous vow of love and their association with the giving of the Torah to the Jewish people. Ruth is revered as a Jewish convert and an ancestor of Jesus. But Ruth and her Israelite mother-in-law were so poor that Ruth had to survive by picking up leftover grains of barley in the fields after harvest. Gay Israeli artist Adi Nes brings home the reality of their poverty by showing the pair scavenging onions from a contemporary street littered with trash after an open-air market. They are posed like the peasants in Millet’s “The Gleaners,” a painting well known for showing the dignity of society’s poorest members.

“Untitled (Ruth and Naomi)” by Adi Nes

The careworn faces of Ruth and her beloved Naomi become visible in a second portrait by Nes. He shows that their love for each other is all they have as they sit together among discarded crates. For more about Adi Nes, see my previous post “Adi Nes: Gay Israeli artist humanizes Bible stories.”

“Untitled (Ruth and Naomi)” by Adi Nes

The painting below, “Whither Thou Goest” by Trudie Barreras, was commissioned in 2004 by Rev. Paul Graetz, pastor of City of Light / First Metropolitan Community Church of Atlanta, for a sermon series that he was doing on the Book of Ruth.

“Whither Thou Goest” by Trudie Barreras, 2004
Acrylic, 18” x 14.” Collection of City of Light / First Metropolitan Community Church of Atlanta, GA.

Ruth and Naomi in music

Ruth’s vow to Naomi is set to sacred choral music in “Entreat Me Not To Leave You” by American composer Dan Forrest, from the album “Music of the Living.” The song conveys the intense love between Ruth and Naomi by beginning quietly, building to a climax with the words “where you die, I will die,” and returning to a more meditative mood at the end.

The vow between Ruth and Naomi is expanded to extend love to whole communities, such as immigrants and Muslims, in “Where You Go” by Shoshana Jedwab, singer/songwriter, Jewish educator and ritual leader.

Ruth and Naomi in prayer

Here is my queer prayer inspired by Ruth and Naomi:

O God, inspire us to love one another
as Ruth and Naomi loved each other.
They gave us a powerful example
of love between women.
May their love guide same-sex couples
and all couples into a deeper connection
with each other and
with the Spirit who created us to love. Amen.

Ruth and Naomi links

Queering the Church: Ruth and Naomi

Stroppy Rabbit Blog: Naomi and Ruth in art

Conjubilant with Song Blog: “Song of Ruth” hymn by Fanny Crosby, 1875

Before Stonewall, Episode 4: The Story of Ruth and Naomi (video by Chad Denton)
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To read this article in Spanish, go to:
Rut y Noemí: El amor entre mujeres en la Biblia (Santos Queer)

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תפילת משיח קשת בענן (Rainbow Christ Prayer in Hebrew from Q Spirit)

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Top image credit:
“Naomi and Ruth” by Katy Miles-Wallace. The icons may be available as prints, jewelry and more at the Queerly Christian Zazzle shop.

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This post is part of the LGBTQ Saints series by Kittredge Cherry. Traditional and alternative saints, people in the Bible, LGBTQ martyrs, authors, theologians, religious leaders, artists, deities and other figures of special interest to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people and our allies are covered.

This article was originally published on Q Spirit in December 2016, was expanded with new material over time, and was most recently updated on Dec. 17, 2023.

Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.
Qspirit.net presents the Jesus in Love Blog on LGBTQ spirituality.

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