Shared Word Translation
Ruth 1
Naomi’s Loss and Return
In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to dwell in the fields of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion; they were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They came into the fields of Moab and remained there. But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left, she and her two sons. These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. And they lived there about ten years. Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.
Then she rose, she and her daughters-in-law, to return from the fields of Moab, for she had heard in the fields of Moab that the LORD had attended to his people and given them bread. So she set out from the place where she had been, and her two daughters-in-law with her, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each of you to your mother’s house. May the LORD deal with you in steadfast kindness, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. May the LORD grant that you find rest, each of you in the house of her husband.” Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept. And they said to her, “No, we will return with you to your people.”
But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb, that they may become your husbands? Turn back, my daughters, go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. Even if I said I have hope, even if I should have a husband this night and also bear sons, would you therefore wait until they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters; for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the LORD has gone out against me.” Then they lifted up their voices and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.
And she said, “See, your sister-in-law has returned to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” But Ruth said, “Do not press 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 shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD do thus to me, and more also, if anything but death separates me from you.” And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more.
So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them; and the women said, “Is this Naomi?” She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went away full, and the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the LORD has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?” So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabite her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the fields of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.