Naomi had nothing left to offer, and she wanted her daughters-in-law to see that clearly before they went any further. If they came with her, they would have no hope of marrying again; Keil & Delitzsch explain that this was the point she was trying to make. Her first question asks for their reason. Were they moved only by natural affection for her, or by real love for the God and people of Israel? Gill says this is what she wanted to find out. Her second question answers itself: she has no more sons who could become their husbands. She also did not want them to come only for her sake. Matthew Henry says she wanted it to be their own deliberate choice.

Naomi answers her own question, and then each daughter-in-law makes her choice. In Ruth 1:12-13 Naomi says, "I am too old to have an husband," and even if she bore sons that night, they could not wait for them. Then the women "lifted up their voice, and wept again." Orpah kissed her mother-in-law and went back, "but Ruth clave unto her" (Ruth 1:14), that is, Ruth clung to her. When Naomi pressed again, Ruth answered, "thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God" (Ruth 1:16).

Naomi's second question may point to a custom in Israel's law, though commentators read it differently. Keil & Delitzsch see a reference to levirate marriage, where a dead man's brother took his widow as wife to raise up a son in the dead brother's name (Deuteronomy 25:5-6; Genesis 38:8). Gill notes that earlier interpreters were divided on this, and he reads the question more simply: "is there any likelihood that I should ever have any sons to be instead of husbands, or really husbands to you?" The difference affects how we hear Naomi. On the first reading she is pointing to a family duty that no son of hers could now fulfill; on the second she is simply saying she can never give them husbands. Either way, the answer is no.

The word the KJV renders "womb" is the Hebrew me'im, literally "inward parts" or "bowels." Keil & Delitzsch also point out that Naomi did not mention finding other husbands in Judah, perhaps out of delicacy because they were Moabites.

Naomi's question looks only at what she could not give: she had no sons left to become their husbands (Ruth 1:11-12). But the story goes on to show what she could not see on the road. Boaz, "a kinsman of her husband's," was already in Bethlehem (Ruth 2:1), and Ruth would become his wife and bear a son (Ruth 4:13).

The question also became a turning point. It separated a choice made from affection for Naomi from a choice made for Naomi's God. Orpah went back "unto her gods" (Ruth 1:15). Ruth chose "thy God my God" (Ruth 1:16).