CHAPTER 1

¹And it happened in the days when the judges ruled that there was a famine in the land, and a man went from Bethlehem to sojourn in the plains of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. ²And the man’s name was Elimelech, and his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites from Bethlehem of Judah. And they came to the plains of Moab and they were there. ³And Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died, and she, together with her two sons, was left. ⁴And they took for themselves Moabite wives. The name of one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. And they dwelled there some ten years. ⁵And the two of them, Mahlon and Chilion, died as well, and the woman was left of her two children and of her husband. ⁶And she rose, she and her daughters-in-law, and turned back from the plains of Moab, for she had heard in the plains of Moab that the LORD had singled out His people to give them bread. ⁷And she went out from the place where she had been, with her two daughters-in-law, and they went on the way to go back to the land of Judah. ⁸And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law: “Go back, each of you to her mother’s house. May the LORD do kindness with you as you have done with the dead and with me. ⁹May the LORD grant that you find a settled place, each of you in the house of her husband.” And she kissed them, and they raised their voice and wept. ¹⁰And they said to her, “But with you we will go back to your people.” ¹¹And Naomi said, “Go back, my daughters, why should you go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb who could be husbands to you? ¹²Go back, my daughters, go, for I am too old to have a husband. Even had I thought ‘I have hope. This very night I shall have a husband and bear sons,’ ¹³would you wait for them till they grew up? For them would you be deprived of husbands? No, my daughters, for it is far more bitter for me than for you because the LORD’s hand has come out against me.” ¹⁴And they raised their voice and wept once more, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. ¹⁵And she said, “Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people. Go back after your sister-in-law.” ¹⁶And Ruth said, “Do not entreat me to forsake you, to turn back from you. For wherever you go, I will go. And wherever you lodge, I will lodge. Your people is my people, and your god is my god. ¹⁷Wherever you die, I will die, and there will I be buried. So may the LORD do to me or even more, for only death will part you and me.” ¹⁸And she saw that she was insisting on going with her, and she ceased speaking to her. ¹⁹And the two of them went until they came to Bethlehem, and it happened as they came to Bethlehem that the whole town was astir over them, and the women said, “Is this Naomi?” ²⁰And she said, “Do not call me Naomi. Call me Mara, for Shaddai has dealt great bitterness to me. ²¹I went out full, and empty did the LORD bring me back. Why should you call me Naomi when the LORD has borne witness against me and Shaddai has done me harm?” ²²And Naomi came back, and her daughter-in-law with her who was coming back from the plains of Moab. And they had come to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.