Ruth 1

1In the period when the judges governed, there was a famine in the land, and a man from Bethlehem in Judah left to settle for a while in the territory of Moab—he, his wife, and his two sons.

2The man was called Elimelech, his wife was called Naomi, and his two sons were called Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They came into the territory of Moab and remained there.

3Then Naomi’s husband Elimelech died, and only she and her two sons were left.

4The sons married women of Moab. One was Orpah and the second was Ruth. They stayed there about ten years.

5Then Mahlon and Chilion, both of them, died as well, and the woman was left with neither her two boys nor her husband.

6So she got up with her daughters-in-law to return from the territory of Moab, because she had heard, there in Moab, that Yahweh had taken note of his people and given them food.

7She left the place where she had been, her two daughters-in-law with her, and they started along the road back to the land of Judah.

8Then Naomi told her two daughters-in-law, “Go back home, each of you to your own mother’s house. May Yahweh deal with you in steadfast love, just as you have dealt kindly with those who died and with me.

9May Yahweh let each of you find rest in the home of a husband.” Then she kissed them, and they broke into loud weeping.

10But they told her, “No, we are going back with you to your people.”

11Naomi answered, “Turn back, my daughters. What reason do you have to go with me? Are there still sons in my womb to become husbands for you?

12Turn back, my daughters, and go, because I am too old to be married again. Even if I told myself there was hope for me, even if I were with a husband tonight and later bore sons,

13would you really wait for them to grow up? Would you shut yourselves away for their sake and stay unmarried? No, my daughters. My bitterness is much greater than yours, because Yahweh’s hand has gone out against me.”

14Once more they raised their voices and wept. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law farewell, but Ruth held fast to her.

15Naomi said, “See, your sister-in-law has returned to her people and to her gods. Follow your sister-in-law back.”

16But Ruth said, “Do not press me to abandon you, to turn back and stop following you. For wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you spend the night, I will spend the night. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.

17Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May Yahweh deal harshly with me, and worse still, if anything but death comes between you and me.”

18When Naomi saw that Ruth was set on going with her, she said nothing further to her.

19The two of them traveled on until they reached Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was in an uproar over them, and the women said, “Is this really Naomi?”

20She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, because the Almighty has brought great bitterness on me.

21I was full when I left, but Yahweh has brought me home empty. Why would you call me Naomi? Yahweh has testified against me, and the Almighty has done me harm.”

22That is how Naomi came back, with Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, who returned with her from the territory of Moab. They arrived in Bethlehem just as the barley harvest was beginning.