Ruth 1

And it came to pass in the days when the judges judged that there was a famine in the land, so a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to live in the country of Moab; he and his wife and his two sons.

The name of the man was Elimelech and the name of his wife was Naomi and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion; they were Ephrathites of Bethlehem in Judah. And they came into the country of Moab and they stayed there.

Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died. And she was left; she and her two sons,

and they took wives for themselves of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other was Ruth. And they lived there about ten years.

But Mahlon and Chilion both died, so the woman was left without her two children and her husband.

Then she arose with her daughters-in-law in order to return from the country of Moab, for in the country of Moab she had heard that Yahweh had visited his people by giving them bread.

So she set out from the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her, and they went on the road to return to the land of Judah.

And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, each of you return to the house of her mother. May Yahweh show faithful love to you, just as you have shown to the dead and to me.

May Yahweh grant you that you find rest, each of you in the house of her husband.” Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voice and wept.

And they said to her, “No, we will return with you to your people.”

But Naomi said, “Go back, my daughters! Why would you go with me? Do I still have sons in my gut that they could be your husbands?

Go back, my daughters! Go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. If I were to say, ‘I have hope,’ and even have a husband tonight and also bear sons,

would you therefore wait until they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from having husbands? No, my daughters! For life is bitter for me, too much for you, for the hand of Yahweh has gone out against me.

They lifted up their voice and wept again, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.

And Naomi said, “Behold, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her god. Go back after your sister-in-law.”

But Ruth said, “Do not press me to abandon you or to return from following after you! For where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge; your people are my people, and your God is my God;

where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. Yahweh do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts you and me.”

When she saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more to her.

So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. And it came to pass when they came to Bethlehem that the whole city was astir about them, and the women said, “Is this Naomi?”

She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi. Call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.

I went out full and Yahweh has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since Yahweh has testified against me and the Almighty has afflicted me?”

So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess her daughter-in-law who returned with her out of the country of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest.