1:1 Now it came about in the days when the judges governed, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the land of Moab with his wife and his two sons. |
1:2 The name of the man {was} Elimelech, and the name of his wife, Naomi; and the names of his two sons {were} Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem in Judah. Now they entered the land of Moab and remained there. |
1:3 Then Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died; and she was left with her two sons. |
1:4 They took for themselves Moabite women {as} wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. And they lived there about ten years. |
1:5 Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and the woman was bereft of her two children and her husband. |
1:6 Then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the land of Moab, for she had heard in the land of Moab that the LORD had visited His people in giving them food. |
1:7 So she departed from the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her; and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. |
1:8 And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Go, return each of you to her mother's house. May the LORD deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me. |
1:9 "May the LORD grant that you may find rest, each in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept." |
1:10 And they said to her, "{No,} but we will surely return with you to your people." |
1:11 But Naomi said, "Return, my daughters. Why should you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? |
1:12 "Return, my daughters! Go, for I am too old to have a husband. If I said I have hope, if I should even have a husband tonight and also bear sons, |
1:13 would you therefore wait until they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters; for it is harder for me than for you, for the hand of the LORD has gone forth against me." |
1:14 And they lifted up their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. |
1:15 Then she said, "Behold, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her gods; return after your sister-in-law." |
1:16 But Ruth said, "Do not urge me to leave you {or} turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people {shall be} my people, and your God, my God. |
1:17 "Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the LORD do to me, and worse, if {anything but} death parts you and me." |
1:18 When she saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more to her. |
1:19 So they both went until they came to Bethlehem. And when they had come to Bethlehem, all the city was stirred because of them, and the women said, "Is this Naomi?" |
1:20 She said to them, "Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. |
1:21 "I went out full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the LORD has witnessed against me and the Almighty has afflicted me?" |
1:22 So Naomi returned, and with her Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, who returned from the land of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest. |