Ruth 1:15-22

New International Version

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)