| New American Standard Bible | ►► |
Naomi Widowed
1Now it came about in the days when the judges [a]governed, that there was a famine in the land. And a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to reside in the land of Moab [b]with his wife and his two sons.
2The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife, Naomi; and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem in Judah. So they entered the land of Moab and remained there.
3Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left with her two sons.
4And they took for themselves Moabite women as wives; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other, Ruth. And they lived there about ten years.
5Then [c]both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.
6Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the land of Moab, because she had heard in the land of Moab that the LORD had visited His people by giving them food.
7So she departed 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.
8But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each of you to [d]your mother’s house. May the LORD deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me.
9May the LORD grant that you may find a place of rest, each one in the house of her husband.” Then she kissed them, and they raised their voices and wept.
10However, they said to her, “No, but we will return with you to your people.”
11But Naomi said, “Return, my daughters. Why should you go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands?
12Return, my daughters! Go, for I am too old to have a husband. If I said I have hope, if I were even to have a husband tonight and also give birth to sons,
13would you therefore wait until they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters; for it is much more bitter for me than for you, because the hand of the LORD has come out against me.”
Ruth’s Loyalty
14And they raised their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.
15Then she said, “Behold, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her gods; return after your sister-in-law.”
16But Ruth said, “Do not plead with me to leave you or to turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you sleep, I will sleep. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.
17Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD do so to me, and worse, if anything but death separates [e]me from you.”
18When she saw that she was determined to go with her, she stopped speaking to her about it.
19So they both went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they had come to Bethlehem, all the city was stirred because of them, and [f]the women said, “Is this Naomi?”