15 “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law(A) is going back to her people and her gods.(B) Go back with her.”

16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you(C) or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go,(D) and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people(E) and your God my God.(F) 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely,(G) if even death separates you and me.”(H) 18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.(I)

19 So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem.(J) When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred(K) because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”

20 “Don’t call me Naomi,[a]” she told them. “Call me Mara,[b] because the Almighty[c](L) has made my life very bitter.(M) 21 I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty.(N) Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted[d] me;(O) the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”

22 So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite,(P) her daughter-in-law,(Q) arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest(R) was beginning.(S)

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Footnotes

  1. Ruth 1:20 Naomi means pleasant.
  2. Ruth 1:20 Mara means bitter.
  3. Ruth 1:20 Hebrew Shaddai; also in verse 21
  4. Ruth 1:21 Or has testified against

15 And she said, Behold, thy sister in law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister in law.

16 And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:

17 Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.

18 When she saw that she was stedfastly minded to go with her, then she left speaking unto her.

19 So they two went until they came to Bethlehem. And it came to pass, when they were come to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about them, and they said, Is this Naomi?

20 And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.

21 I went out full and the Lord hath brought me home again empty: why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the Lord hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me?

22 So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter in law, with her, which returned out of the country of Moab: and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest.

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