Ruth1

¹In the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land , and a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab , he and his wife and his two sons .

²The name of the man was Elimelech and the name of his wife Naomi , and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion . They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah . They went into the country of Moab and remained there .

³But Elimelech , the husband of Naomi , died , and she was left with her two sons .

⁴These took Moabite wives ; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth . They lived there about ten years ,

⁵and both Mahlon and Chilion died , so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband .

⁶Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab , for she had heard in the fields of Moab that the Lord had visited his people and given them food .

⁷So she set out from the place where she was with her two daughters-in-law , and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah .

⁸But 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.

⁹The Lord grant that you may find rest , each of you in the house of her husband ! Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept .

¹⁰And they said to her, No, we will return with you to your people .

¹¹But Naomi said , Turn back , my daughters ; why will you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb that they may become your husbands ?

¹²Turn back , my daughters ; go your way, for I am too old to have a husband . If I should say I have hope , even if I should have a husband this night and should bear sons ,

¹³would you therefore wait till they were grown ? Would you therefore refrain from marrying ? No, my daughters , for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me.

¹⁴Then they lifted up their voices and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law , but Ruth clung to her.

¹⁵And she said , See , your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods ; return after your sister-in-law .

¹⁶But Ruth said , Do not urge me to leave you or to return 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 .

¹⁷Where you die I will die , and there will I be buried . May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.

¹⁸And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more .

¹⁹So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem . And when they came to Bethlehem , the whole town was stirred because of them. And the women said , Is this Naomi ?

²⁰She said to them, Do not call me Naomi ; call me Mara , for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.

²¹I went away full , and the Lord has brought me back empty . Why call me Naomi , when the Lord has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?

²²So Naomi returned , and Ruth the Moabite her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab . And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest .