Ruth 1
1 In the days of one of the judges, when the judges ruled, there came a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem Juda, went to sojourn in the land of Moab with his wife and his two sons.
There was a famine during the time when the judges ruled Israel, so a man left Bethlehem in Judah and went to live in exile in the country of Moab, along with his wife and two sons.
2 He was named Elimelech, and his wife, Noemi: and his two sons, the one Mahalon, and the other Chelion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem Juda. And entering into the country of Moab, they abode there.
His name was Elimelech, and his wife's name Naomi. His sons were called Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went to the country of Moab and lived there.
3 And Elimelech the husband of Noemi died: and she remained with her sons.
However, Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died, and she was left with her two sons.
4 And they took wives of the women of Moab, of which one was called Orpha, and the other Ruth. And they dwelt there ten years.
The sons married Moabite women. One was called Orpah, the other was called Ruth. After about ten years,
5 And they both died, to wit, Mahalon and Chelion: and the woman was left alone, having lost both her sons and her husband.
both Mahlon and Chilion died. Naomi was left alone, without her two sons or her husband.
6 And she arose to go from the land of Moab to her own country with both her daughters in law: for she had heard that the Lord had looked upon his people, and had given them food.
So she and her daughters-in-law prepared to leave the country of Moab and return home because she had heard that the Lord had blessed his people there with food.
7 Wherefore she went forth out of the place of her sojournment, with both her daughters in law: and being now in the way to return into the land of Juda,
She left the place where she had been living and with her two daughters-in-law set out on the road back to the land of Judah.
8 She said to them: Go ye home to your mothers: the Lord deal mercifully with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me.
However, as they left, Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Each of you, go back to your mother's homes, and may the Lord be as kind to you as you have been to me, and to those who have died.
9 May he grant you to find rest in the houses of the husbands which you shall take. And she kissed them. And they lifted up their voice and began to weep,
May the Lord give you a good home with another husband.” She kissed them, and they all started to cry loudly.
10 And to say: We will go on with thee to thy people.
“No! We want to go back with you to your people,” they replied.
11 But she answered them: Return, my daughters: why come ye with me? have I any more sons in my womb, that you may hope for husbands of me?
“Why do you want to go back with me?” Naomi asked. “I'm not able to have any more sons for you to marry.
12 Return again, my daughters, and go your ways: for I am now spent with age, and not fit for wedlock. Although I might conceive this night, and bear children,
Go back home, my daughters, because I'm too old to marry again. Even if I were to sleep with a new husband tonight and had sons,
13 If you would wait till they were grown up, and come to man’s estate, you would be old women before you marry. Do not so, my daughters, I beseech you: for I am grieved the more for your distress, and the hand of the Lord is gone out against me.
would you wait for them to grow up? Would you decide you weren't going to marry anyone else? No. The whole situation is more bitter for me than it is for you, for the Lord has turned against me!”
14 And they lifted up their voice, and began to weep again: Orpha kissed her mother in law and returned: Ruth stuck close to her mother in law.
They started crying loudly again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye. But Ruth held on tightly to Naomi.
15 And Noemi said to her: Behold thy kinswoman is returned to her people, and to her gods, go thou with her.
“Look, your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back home with her,” said Naomi.
16 She answered: Be not against me, to desire that I should leave thee and depart: for whithersoever thou shalt go, I will go: and where thou shalt dwell, I also will dwell. Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.
But Ruth replied, “Please don't keep on telling me to leave you and go back. Where you go, I will go. Where you live, I will live. Your people will be my people. Your God will be my God.
17 The land that shall receive thee dying, in the same will I die: and there will I be buried. The Lord do so and so to me, and add more also, if aught but death part me and thee.
Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me harshly if I let anything but death separate us!”
18 Then Noemi, seeing that Ruth was steadfastly determined to go with her, would not be against it, nor persuade her any more to return to her friends:
When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped telling Ruth to go home.
19 So they went together and came to Bethlehem. And when they were come into the city, the report was quickly spread among all: and the women said: This is that Noemi.
So the two of them walked on until they reached Bethlehem. When they arrived there, the whole town got excited. “Is this Naomi?” the women asked.
20 But she said to them: Call me not Noemi, (that is, beautiful, ) but call me Mara, (that is, bitter, ) for the Almighty hath quite filled me with bitterness.
She said to them, “Don't call me Naomi! Call me Mara, for the Almighty has treated me very bitterly.
21 I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me back empty. Why then do you call me Noemi, whom the Lord hath humbled and the Almighty hath afflicted?
I left here full, but the Lord has brought me home empty. Why call me Naomi when the Lord has condemned me, when the Almighty has brought disaster on me?”
22 So Noemi came with Ruth the Moabitess her daughter in law, from the land of her sojournment: and returned into Bethlehem, in the beginning of the barley harvest.
This is the way that Naomi returned from Moab with Ruth, the Moabite, her daughter-in-law. They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.
