Ruth 01
Naomi and her daughters-in-law Orfa and Ruth
1 And it came to pass that in the days when the judges judged, there was a famine in the land: so a man from Bethlehem of Judah went out to wander in the fields of Moab, he and his wife, and their two sons.
2 And the name of this man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Noemi, and the names of his sons Malom and Chiliom, the Ephrathites, from Bethlehem of Judah:
3 And Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died; and she stayed with her two children.
4 Who took Moabite women for themselves; and it was the name of one Orfa, and the name of the other Ruth, and they stayed there for almost ten years.
5 And both Malom and Chiliom also died, so this woman was left helpless by her two sons and her husband.
6 Then she arose with her daughters-in-law, and returned from the fields of Moab: for in the land of Moab she heard that the Lord had visited his people, giving them bread.
7 So she left the place where she had been, and her two daughters-in-law with her. And as they went on their way, to return to the land of Judah.
8 Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law: Go, return each to your mother's house; and may the Lord use you with kindness, as you have used the dead and me.
9 The Lord give you to find rest each in your husband's house. And when she kissed them, they raised their voices and wept.
10 And they said to him, Surely we will return to your people with you.
11 But Naomi said, Return, my daughters, why would you go with me? Do I still have more children in my womb, to be your husband?
12 Become my daughters, go away, I am too old to have a husband: even when I say: I have hope, or that tonight I would have a husband and still have children,
13 Would you wait until they were big? Will you stop for them without taking a husband? No, my daughters, what more bitter is me than yourselves; because the hand of the Lord was discharged against me.
14 Then they lifted up their voices, and wept again: and Orpah kissed his mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.
15 So he said, "Behold, your sister-in-law has returned to her people and to their gods; you also return after your sister-in-law."
16 But Ruth said, Do not urge me to leave you, and keep me away from you. For wherever you go I will go, and wherever you land at night I will land; your people are my people, your God is my God;
17 Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried: let the Lord do this to me, and so on, if anything other than death separates me from you.
18 When she saw that she was determined to go with her, she stopped talking about it.
19 So they both left, until they came to Bethlehem: and it came to pass, as they entered Bethlehem, that the whole city was moved by them, and they said, Isn't this Naomi?
20 But she said to them, Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, because the Almighty has given me great bitterness.
21 I left full, but empty the Lord made me return: why should I call myself Naomi? for the Lord testifies against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me so much.
22 So Naomi returned, and Ruth with her the daughter-in-law, Moabite, who was returning from the fields of Moab: and they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.