Naomi urged her daughters-in-law to return to their mothers’ houses and seek rest in a new marriage. She said she had no more sons to give them as husbands. Her words and reasoning appear in Ruth 1:8–13.
In Ruth 1:8–13 Naomi urges her two Moabite daughters-in-law to stop traveling with her and return home. She blesses them, asking Yahweh to repay their kindness and to give them “rest” through new marriages. This scene follows the opening tragedy: Naomi’s family leaves Bethlehem for Moab because of famine, and Naomi loses her husband and two sons (1:1–5). After hearing that conditions in Judah have improved, Naomi starts the journey back, with Ruth and Orpah accompanying her (1:6–7).
Naomi’s words combine care and realism. She urges Ruth and Orpah to return to their own families (“mother’s house”), and she speaks a blessing over them, asking Yahweh to repay the kindness they have shown both to their deceased husbands (“the dead”) and to Naomi (verses 8–9).
A careful answer keeps the immediate passage, the book's argument, and the whole-Bible storyline together, so the question is answered in context instead of as a detached idea.
Start with Ruth 1:8-13, then read the surrounding section so the answer stays connected to the passage's flow.
8Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, Go, return each of you to her mother`s house: Yahweh deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead, and with me.
9Yahweh grant you that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voice, and wept.
10They said to her, No, but we will return with you to your people.
11Naomi said, Turn again, my daughters: why will you go with me? have I yet sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands?
12Turn again, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say, I have hope, if I should even have a husband tonight, and should also bear sons;
13would you therefore wait until they were grown? would you therefore stay from having husbands? nay, my daughters, for it grieves me much for your sakes, for the hand of Yahweh is gone forth against me.