| 1 | In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem of Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, his wife, and his two sons. |
| 2 | The man’s name was Elimelech and his wife’s name was Naomi and his two sons were named Mahlon [invalid] and Chilion [pining]; they were Ephrathites from Bethlehem of Judah. They went to the country of Moab and continued there. |
| 3 | But Elimelech, who Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. |
| 4 | And they took wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. They dwelt there about ten years; |
| 5 | And Mahlon and Chilion died also, both of them, so the woman was bereft of her two sons and her husband. |
| 6 | Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in Moab how the Lord had visited His people in giving them food. |
| 7 | So she left the place where she was, her two daughters-in-law with her, and they started on the way back to Judah. |
| 8 | But 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. |
| 9 | The Lord grant that you may find a home
and
rest, each in the house of her husband! Then she kissed them and they wept aloud. |
| 10 | And they said to her, No, we will return with you to your people. |
| 11 | But Naomi said, Turn back, my daughters, why will you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb that may become your husbands? |
| 12 | Turn back, my daughters, go; for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, even if I should have a husband tonight and should bear sons, |
| 13 | Would you therefore wait till they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters; it is far more bitter for me than for you that the hand of the Lord is gone out against me. |
| 14 | Then they wept aloud again; and Orpah
[a]kissed her mother-in-law [good-bye], but Ruth clung to her. |
| 15 | And Naomi said, See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law. |
| 16 | And Ruth said, Urge me not to leave you or to turn back from following you; for where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge.
[b]Your people shall be my people and your God my God. |
| 17 | Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts me from you. |
| 18 | When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said no more. |
| 19 | So they both went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred about them, and said, Is this Naomi? |
| 20 | And she said to them, Call me not Naomi [pleasant]; call me Mara [bitter], for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. |
| 21 | I went out full, but the Lord has brought me home again empty. Why call me Naomi, since the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me? |
| 22 | So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her, who returned from the country of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest. |
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