Rut 1:12 | NETfull | STEP | Go back home, my daughters! For I am too old to get married again. Even if I thought that there was hope that I could get married tonight and conceive sons,

Ruth 1:12

12 Go back home, my daughters! For I am too old to get married again. ^{▼▼ Too old to get married again. Naomi may be exaggerating for the sake of emphasis. Her point is clear, though: It is too late to roll back the clock.} Even if I thought that there was hope that I could get married tonight and conceive sons, ^{▼▼ Verse 12b contains the protasis (“if” clause) of a conditional sentence, which is completed by the rhetorical questions in v. 13. For a detailed syntactical analysis, see F. W. Bush, Ruth, Esther (WBC), 78-79.}