Therefore she went out from the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her; and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, (A)“Go, return each to her mother’s house. (B)The Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt (C)with the dead and with me. The Lord grant that you may find (D)rest, each in the house of her husband.”

So she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept. 10 And they said to her, “Surely we will return with you to your people.”

11 But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me? Are there still sons in my womb, (E)that they may be your husbands? 12 Turn back, my daughters, go—for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, if I should have a husband tonight and should also bear sons, 13 would you wait for them till they were grown? Would you restrain yourselves from having husbands? No, my daughters; for it grieves me very much for your sakes that (F)the hand of the Lord has gone out against me!”

14 Then they lifted up their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth (G)clung to her.

15 And she said, “Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to (H)her people and to her gods; (I)return after your sister-in-law.”

16 But Ruth said:

(J)“Entreat[a] me not to leave you,
Or to turn back from following after you;
For wherever you go, I will go;
And wherever you lodge, I will lodge;
(K)Your people shall be my people,
And your God, my God.
17 Where you die, I will die,
And there will I be buried.
(L)The Lord do so to me, and more also,
If anything but death parts you and me.”

18 (M)When she saw that she [b]was determined to go with her, she stopped speaking to her.

19 Now the two of them went until they came to Bethlehem. And it happened, when they had come to Bethlehem, that (N)all the city was excited because of them; and the women said, (O)Is this Naomi?”

20 But she said to them, “Do not call me [c]Naomi; call me [d]Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. 21 I went out full, (P)and the Lord has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has testified against me, and [e]the Almighty has afflicted me?”

22 So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab. Now they came to Bethlehem (Q)at the beginning of barley harvest.

Ruth Meets Boaz

There was a (R)relative of Naomi’s husband, a man of great wealth, of the family of (S)Elimelech. His name was (T)Boaz. So Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Please let me go to the (U)field, and glean heads of grain after him in whose sight I may find favor.”

And she said to her, “Go, my daughter.”

Then she left, and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers. And she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.

Footnotes

  1. Ruth 1:16 Urge me not
  2. Ruth 1:18 Lit. made herself strong to go
  3. Ruth 1:20 Lit. Pleasant
  4. Ruth 1:20 Lit. Bitter
  5. Ruth 1:21 Heb. Shaddai

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