A woman of MOAB, widow of Mahlon, who binds herself to her Israelite mother-in-law NAOMI with the great oath 'your people my people, your God my God' (1:16) and returns with her to Bethlehem. The book named for her tells how this foreign convert gleans in the field of Boaz, claims the levirate redemption, and marries him — becoming the great-grandmother of DAVID (4:17) and, in Matthew's genealogy, an ancestress of Jesus (Matthew 1:5). ⚠️ That a MOABITE is the heroine cuts pointedly against Deuteronomy 23:3's ban on Moabites in the assembly of Jehovah: Ruth's covenant belonging is won by chesed and faith, not by blood. Her name's meaning is uncertain — often linked to re'ut, 'friendship, companionship,' or to a root for 'refreshment.'