Famine in Bethlehem
1 1 When the judges ruled, a famine struck the land, and a man from Bethlehem in Judah went with his wife and two sons to stay a while in the fields of Moab. 2 The man was named Elimelech, his wife Naomi, and his two sons Mahlon and Chilion—Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went to the territory of Moab and stayed there. 3 Then Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 They married Moabite women—Orpah and Ruth—and lived there about ten years. 5 Both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two children and husband.
Ruth's Unbreakable Bond
6 In Moab's fields, Naomi heard that our Father had attended his people, giving them food, so she set out with her two daughters-in-law to return from there. 7 She left the place where she had been, with her two daughters-in-law, and they went on the road back to the land of Judah. 8 Naomi told her two daughters-in-law, "Return, each to your mother's home. May our Father deal kindly with you, as you dealt with the dead and with me." 9 "May our Father give each of you rest in another husband's home." Then she kissed them, and they wept aloud.
10 And they said to her, "No — we will return with you to your people."
11 Naomi said, "Go back, my daughters. Why go with me? Do I have more sons in my womb to become your husbands?" 12 Return, my daughters, go, for I'm too old to marry. Even if I said there's still hope, even if I had a husband tonight and bore sons, 13 Would you wait for them until grown? Would you stay unmarried for them? No, my daughters — it's far more bitter for me than you, since our Father's hand has turned against me.
14 At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her. 15 Naomi said, "Look, your sister-in-law went back to her people and her gods. Go back with her."
16 Ruth said, "Don't push me to leave you or turn back from following you. Where you go, I'll go; where you stay, I'll stay. Your people are my people, your God my God." a a v16 Ruth's vow is one of the canonical entry-points where a Gentile binds herself to Israel's God — and through her, our Father weaves a Moabite woman into the family line that leads to David and to Jesus. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May our Father punish me ever so severely if anything but death separates you and me."
18 When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said no more to her.
19 So both of them traveled until they reached Bethlehem. When they entered Bethlehem, the whole town stirred over them, and the women said, "Is this Naomi?"
20 "Don't call me Naomi," she said. "Call me Mara — the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me." b b v20 Naomi means "pleasant"; Mara means "bitter." She renames herself to match the grief she is carrying home. 21 "I went away full, but our Father has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when our Father has afflicted me and the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me?" 22 So Naomi returned from the fields of Moab with Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, who came back with her. They reached Bethlehem as barley harvest began.
