Ruth 1
1 Now there came a time, in the days of the judges, when there was no food in the land. And a certain man went from Beth-lehem-judah, he and his wife and his two sons, to make a living-place in the country of Moab.
In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. And a certain man from Bethlehem in Judah, with his wife and two sons, went to reside in the land of Moab.
2 And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Beth-lehem-judah. And they came into the country of Moab, and were there for some time.
The man’s name was Elimelech, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah, and they entered the land of Moab and settled there.
3 And Elimelech, Naomi's husband, came to his end; and only her two sons were with her.
Then Naomi’s husband Elimelech died, and she was left with her two sons,
4 And they took two women of Moab as their wives: the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth; and they went on living there for about ten years.
who took Moabite women as their wives, one named Orpah and the other named Ruth. And after they had lived in Moab about ten years,
5 And Mahlon and Chilion came to their end; and the woman was without her two sons and her husband.
both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and without her husband.
6 So she and her daughters-in-law got ready to go back from the country of Moab, for news had come to her in the country of Moab that the Lord, in mercy for his people, had given them food.
When Naomi heard in Moab that the LORD had attended to His people by providing them with food, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to leave the land of Moab.
7 And she went out of the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her; and they went on their way to go back to the land of Judah.
Accompanied by her two daughters-in-law, she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road leading back to the land of Judah.
8 And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, Go back to your mothers' houses: may the Lord be good to you as you have been good to the dead and to me:
Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you to your mother’s home. May the LORD show you loving devotion, as you have shown to your dead and to me.
9 May the Lord give you rest in the houses of your husbands. Then she gave them a kiss; and they were weeping bitterly.
May the LORD enable each of you to find rest in the home of your new husband.” And she kissed them as they wept aloud
10 And they said to her, No, but we will go back with you to your people.
and said, “Surely we will return with you to your people.”
11 But Naomi said, Go back, my daughters; why will you come with me? Have I more sons in my body, to become your husbands?
But Naomi replied, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you go with me? Are there still sons in my womb to become your husbands?
12 Go back, my daughters, and go on your way; I am so old now that I may not have another husband. If I said, I have hopes, if I had a husband tonight, and might have sons,
Return home, my daughters. Go on, for I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was hope for me to have a husband tonight and to bear sons,
13 Would you keep yourselves till they were old enough? would you keep from having husbands for them? No, my daughters; but I am very sad for you that the hand of the Lord is against me.
would you wait for them to grow up? Would you refrain from having husbands? No, my daughters, it grieves me very much for your sakes that the hand of the LORD has gone out against me.”
14 Then again they were weeping; and Orpah gave her mother-in-law a kiss, but Ruth would not be parted from her.
Again they wept aloud, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.
15 And Naomi said, See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods: go back after your sister-in-law.
“Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her gods; follow her back home.”
16 But Ruth said, Give up requesting me to go away from you, or to go back without you: for where you go I will go; and where you take your rest I will take my rest; your people will be my people, and your God my God.
But Ruth replied: “Do not urge me to leave you or to turn from following you. For wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you live, I will live; your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.
17 Wherever death comes to you, death will come to me, and there will be my last resting-place; the Lord do so to me and more if we are parted by anything but death.
Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD punish me, and ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.”
18 And when she saw that Ruth was strong in her purpose to go with her she said no more.
When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped trying to persuade her.
19 So the two of them went on till they came to Beth-lehem. And when they came to Beth-lehem all the town was moved about them, and they said, Is this Naomi?
So Naomi and Ruth traveled until they came to Bethlehem. When they entered Bethlehem, the whole city was stirred because of them, and the women of the city exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”
20 And she said to them, Do not let my name be Naomi, but Mara, for the Ruler of all has given me a bitter fate.
“Do not call me Naomi,” she replied. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has dealt quite bitterly with me.
21 I went out full, and the Lord has sent me back again with nothing; why do you give me the name Naomi, seeing that the Lord has given witness against me, and the Ruler of all has sent sorrow on me?
I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? After all, the LORD has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me.”
22 So Naomi came back out of the country of Moab, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her; and they came to Beth-lehem in the first days of the grain-cutting.
So Naomi returned from the land of Moab with her daughter-in-law Ruth the Moabitess. And they arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.
