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Naomi Widowed

¹ In the days ^(C1)when the judges governed Israel, there was ^(C2)a famine in the land of Canaan. And a certain man ^(C3)of Bethlehem in Judah went to live temporarily in the ^(F1)country of Moab with his wife and his two sons.² The man's name was Elimelech and his wife's name was Naomi and his two sons were named Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went ^(C1)to the country of Moab and stayed there.³ Then Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died, and she was left a widow with her two sons.⁴ They took wives from the Moabite women; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other was Ruth. They lived there about ten years;⁵ and then both Mahlon and Chilion also died, so the woman Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.

⁶ Then she set out with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in Moab how the LORD had ^(C1)taken care of His people of Judah in ^(C2)giving them food.⁷ So she left the place where she was living, her two daughters-in-law with her, and they started on the way back to the land of Judah.⁸ But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Go back, each of you return to your mother's house. ^(C1)May the LORD show kindness to you as you have shown kindness to the dead and to me.⁹ "May the LORD grant that you find rest, each one in the home of her husband." Then she kissed them goodbye, and they wept aloud.¹⁰ And they said to her, "No, we will go with you to your people in Judah."¹¹ But Naomi said, "Go back, my daughters, why should you go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb that ^(C1)may become your husbands?¹² "Go back, my daughters, go, for I am too old to have a husband. If I said I have hope, and if I actually had a husband tonight and even gave birth to sons,¹³ would you wait until they were grown? Would you go without marrying? No, my daughters; for it is much more ^(F1)difficult for me than for you, because ^(C1)the LORD'S hand has gone against me."

Ruth's Loyalty

¹⁵ Then Naomi said, "Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her ^(C1)gods; turn back and follow your sister-in-law."¹⁶ But Ruth said, "Do not urge me to leave you or to turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people will be my people, and your God, my God.¹⁷ "Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May ^(C1)the LORD do the same to me as He has done to you, and more also, if anything but death separates me from you."¹⁸ When ^(C1)Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said nothing more.

¹⁹ So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they arrived in Bethlehem, ^(C1)the whole city was ^(F1)stirred because of them, and the women asked, "Is this Naomi?"²⁰ She said to them, "Do not call me Naomi (sweetness); call me Mara (bitter), for ^(C1)the Almighty has caused me great grief and bitterness.²¹ "I left full with a husband and two sons, but ^(C1)the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, since the LORD has testified against me and the Almighty has afflicted me?"

²² So Naomi returned from the country of Moab, and with her Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law. And they arrived in Bethlehem at ^(C1)the beginning of the barley harvest.