Ruth Chapter 1
1 In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land and a certain man of Bethlehemjudah went to live in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons.
2 The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehemjudah. They came to the fields of Moab and stayed there.
3 Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died and she was left with her two sons.
4 They took wives for themselves from the women of Moab. The name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years.
5 Mahlon and Chilion also both died and the woman was left without her two sons or her husband.
6 So she arose with her daughters in law so that she might return from the fields of Moab. For she had heard in the fields of Moab how the Lord had visited His people, giving them bread.
7 She left the place where she was with her two daughters in law, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah.
8 Naomi said to her two daughters in law, Go. Return each one to her mother's house. May the Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me.
9 May the Lord grant you that you may find rest, each in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them and they lifted up their voice and wept.
10 They said to her, Surely we will return with you to your people.
11 Naomi said, Turn again, my daughters. Why would you go with me? Are there yet sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands?
12 Turn again, my daughters and go. For I am too old to have a husband. If I should say, I have hope, even if I should have a husband tonight and bear sons,
13 would you wait for them until they were grown? Will you shut yourselves up and not have a husband? No, my daughters. For it makes me very sad for your sakes that the hand of the Lord has gone against me.
14 Then they lifted their voice and wept again. Orpah kissed her mother in law good bye. But Ruth clung to her.
15 She said, Behold, your sister in law has gone back to her people and to her gods. Go after your sister in law.
16 Ruth said, Do not beg me to leave you, to return from following after you. For where you go, I will go. Where you stay, I will stay. 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 the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts you and me.
18 When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she quit speaking to her.
19 Both of them went until they came to Bethlehem. When they came to Bethlehem, all the city was moved about them, and they said, Is this Naomi?
20 She said to them, Do not call me Naomi. Call me Mara. For the Almighty has dealt bitterly with me.
21 I went out full, and the Lord has brought me back empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has testified against me and the Almighty has afflicted me?
22 Naomi returned, and her daughter in law Ruth, who was of Moab, was with her, returning out of the fields of Moab. They came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.