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The Book of Ruth 1

1 During the time that judges ruled Israel, there was a famine in that country. A man from the town of Bethlehem in the region of Judah in the country of Israel left there and went to live for a while in the country of Moab. His wife and his two sons went with him. 2 The man’s name was Elimelek and his wife’s name was Naomi. The names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. All of them were part of the clan of Ephrathah, from Bethlehem in Judah. They came to the land of Moab and stayed there. 3 Then Naomi’s husband, Elimelek, died, and Naomi had only her two sons with her. 4 Eventually, the sons married women from Moab. The name of one woman was Orpah, and the name of the other woman was Ruth. But after Naomi and her sons had lived in Moab for about ten years, 5 Mahlon and Kilion also died. So then Naomi was alone without her husband or her two sons.

6 One day while Naomi was in Moab, she heard someone say that Yahweh had helped his people in Israel and that now they had plenty of food. So she got ready to return to Bethlehem with her daughters-in-law. 7 She and her two daughters-in-law left the place where she had been living and they started to walk along the road back to Judah. 8 Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Each of you should turn around and go back to live with your mother. I am asking Yahweh to be as faithful to you as you have been to your dead husbands and to me. 9 I am asking Yahweh to allow each of you to have another husband with whom you will have a secure home.” Then she kissed each of them, and they cried aloud. 10 They each said, “No! We will return with you to your relatives.”

11 But Naomi said, “No, my daughters. Return home. It will not do any good for you to come with me! It is not possible for me to have more sons who could become your husbands. 12 You should go back, my daughters. It is too late for me to have another husband. Even if I thought that I could have another husband, and was married even tonight and had more sons, 13 you would not wait until they grew up! You could not remain unmarried until then! No, my daughters, Yahweh has done very bad things to me, causing me to grieve very much. But your lives do not need to be as bad as mine.”

14 Then Ruth and Orpah cried loudly again. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye and left, but Ruth stayed with Naomi. 15 Naomi said to her, “Look! Your sister-in-law is going back to her relatives and to the god that she worshiped previously! Go back with her!” 16 But Ruth replied, “No! Please do not insist that I abandon you and stop taking care of you! Wherever you travel, I will travel too. Wherever you live, I will live too. Your relatives will be my relatives, and I will worship the God whom you worship. 17 Wherever you die, there I will die, and they will bury me there. May Yahweh punish me severely if I leave you even after we die.” 18 When Naomi realized that Ruth had firmly resolved to go with her, Naomi stopped urging Ruth to return home.

19 So the two women continued walking until they came to the town of Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, many people in the town began talking loudly about them. Many women of the town exclaimed, “It is hard to believe that this is Naomi!” 20 Naomi said to them, “You should not call me Naomi anymore, since it means ‘pleasant.’ Instead, call me Mara, because it means ‘bitter.’ God Almighty has made my life very bitter. 21 When I left, I had everything I could want, but Yahweh has brought me back with nothing. Do not call me Naomi. Yahweh has opposed me. Almighty God has treated me badly.”

22 So that is how Naomi returned home along with her daughter-in-law Ruth, the woman from Moab. When they arrived in Bethlehem, it was the season for people there to begin harvesting their crops of barley.

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