Ruth 1
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Naomi’s Family in Moab
1 During the time[a] of the judges,(A) there was a famine in the land.(B) A man left Bethlehem[b](C) in Judah with his wife and two sons to live in the land of Moab for a while. 2 The man’s name was Elimelech,[c] and his wife’s name was Naomi.[d] The names of his two sons were Mahlon[e] and Chilion.[f] They were Ephrathites(D) from Bethlehem in Judah. They entered the land of Moab and settled there. 3 Naomi’s husband Elimelech died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 Her sons took Moabite women as their wives: one was named Orpah and the second was named Ruth. After they lived in Moab about 10 years, 5 both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two children and without her husband.
Ruth’s Loyalty to Naomi
6 She and her daughters-in-law prepared to leave the land of Moab, because she had heard in Moab that the Lord had paid attention to His people’s need by providing them food.(E) 7 She left the place where she had been living, accompanied by her two daughters-in-law, and traveled along the road leading back to the land of Judah.
8 She said to them, “Each of you go back to your mother’s home.(F) May the Lord show faithful love to you as you have shown to the dead and to me. 9 May the Lord enable each of you to find security(G) in the house of your new husband.” She kissed them, and they wept loudly.
10 “No,” they said to her. “We will go with you to your people.”
11 But Naomi replied, “Return home, my daughters. Why do you want to go with me? Am I able to have any more sons[g] who could become your husbands?(H) 12 Return home, my daughters. Go on, for I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me to have a husband tonight and to bear sons, 13 would you be willing to wait for them to grow up? Would you restrain yourselves from remarrying?[h] No, my daughters, my life is much too bitter for you to share,[i] because the Lord’s hand has turned against me.”(I) 14 Again they wept loudly, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. 15 Naomi said, “Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her god.[j](J) Follow your sister-in-law.”
16 But Ruth replied:
Do not persuade me to leave you
or go back and not follow you.
For wherever you go, I will go,
and wherever you live, I will live;
your people will be my people,
and your God will be my God.
17 Where you die, I will die,
and there I will be buried.
May Yahweh punish me,[k](K)
and do so severely,
if anything but death separates you and me.
18 When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped trying to persuade her.
19 The two of them traveled until they came to Bethlehem. When they entered Bethlehem, the whole town was excited about their arrival[l](L) and the local women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”
20 “Don’t call me Naomi. Call me Mara,”[m] she answered,[n] “for the Almighty(M) has made me very bitter.(N) 21 I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty.(O) Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has pronounced judgment on[o] me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?”
22 So Naomi came back from the land of Moab with her daughter-in-law Ruth the Moabitess. They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.(P)
Footnotes
- Ruth 1:1 Lit In the days of the judging
- Ruth 1:1 = House of Bread
- Ruth 1:2 = My God Is King
- Ruth 1:2 = Pleasant
- Ruth 1:2 = Sickly
- Ruth 1:2 = Weak or failing
- Ruth 1:11 Lit More to me sons in my womb
- Ruth 1:13 Lit marrying a man
- Ruth 1:13 Lit daughters, for more bitter to me than you
- Ruth 1:15 Or gods
- Ruth 1:17 A solemn oath formula; 1Sm 3:17; 2Sm 3:9,35; 1Kg 2:23; 2Kg 6:31
- Ruth 1:19 Lit excited because of them
- Ruth 1:20 = Bitter
- Ruth 1:20 Lit answered them
- Ruth 1:21 LXX, Syr, Vg read has humiliated
Ruth 1
International Standard Version
Naomi’s Family
1 Now there came a time of famine while judges were ruling in the land of Israel.[a] A man from Bethlehem of Judah, his wife, and his two sons left to live in the country of Moab. 2 The man’s name was Elimelech, his wife’s name was Naomi, and their two sons were named Mahlon and Chilion—Ephrathites from Bethlehem of Judah. They journeyed to the country of Moab and lived there for some time.[b] 3 Then Naomi’s husband Elimelech died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 Each of her sons[c] married Moabite women: one named Orpah and the other named Ruth. After they lived there about ten years, 5 both Mahlon and Chilion died, leaving Naomi[d] alone with neither her husband nor her two sons.
Naomi Returns to Judah
6 She and her daughters-in-law prepared to return from the country of Moab, because she had heard while living there[e] how the Lord had come to the aid of his people, giving them relief.[f] 7 So she left the place where she had been, along with her two daughters-in-law, and they traveled along the return road to the land of Judah. 8 But along the way,[g] Naomi told her two daughters-in-law, “Each of you go back home. Return to your mother’s house. May the Lord show his gracious love to you, as you have shown me and our loved ones who have died.[h] 9 May the Lord grant each of you security in your new[i] husbands’ households.” Then she kissed them good-bye,[j] and they cried loudly.
10 They both replied to her, “No! We’ll go back with you to your people.”
11 But Naomi responded, “Go back, my daughters. Why go with me? Are there still sons to be born to me[k] as future husbands for you? 12 So go on back, my daughters! Be on your way! I’m too old to remarry.[l] If I were to say that I’m hoping for a husband tonight and then also bore sons this very night,[m] 13 would you wait for them until they were grown? Would you refrain from marriage for them? No, my daughters! I’m more deeply grieved than you, because[n] the Lord is working against me!”
Ruth Remains with Naomi
14 They began to cry loudly again. So Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye,[o] but Ruth remained with her. 15 Naomi told Ruth,[p] “Look, your sister-in-law has returned to her people and to her gods. Follow your sister-in-law!”
16 But Ruth answered, “Stop urging me to abandon you and to turn back from following you. Because wherever you go, I’ll go. Wherever you live, I’ll live. Your people will be my people, and your God, my God. 17 Where you die, I’ll die and be buried. May the Lord do this to me—and more—if anything[q] except death comes between you and me.”
18 When Naomi[r] observed Ruth’s[s] determination to travel with her, she ended the conversation. 19 So they continued on until they reached Bethlehem.
Naomi and Ruth Arrive in Bethlehem
Now when the two of them arrived in Bethlehem, the entire town got excited at the news of their arrival[t] and they asked one another, “Can this be Naomi?”
20 But Naomi replied, “Don’t call me ‘Naomi’![u] Call me ‘Mara’![v] That’s because the Almighty has dealt bitterly with me. 21 I left here full, but the Lord brought me back empty. So why call me ‘Naomi’? After all, the Lord is against me, and the Almighty has broken[w] me.”
22 So Naomi returned to Bethlehem[x] from the country of Moab, along with her daughter-in-law Ruth the Moabite woman. And they arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.
Footnotes
- Ruth 1:1 The Heb. lacks of Israel
- Ruth 1:2 The Heb. lacks for some time
- Ruth 1:4 Lit. They
- Ruth 1:5 Lit. the woman
- Ruth 1:6 Lit. living in the country of Moab
- Ruth 1:6 Lit. bread or food
- Ruth 1:8 The Heb. lacks along the way
- Ruth 1:8 Lit. and the dead
- Ruth 1:9 The Heb. lacks new
- Ruth 1:9 The Heb. lacks good-bye
- Ruth 1:11 Lit. sons in my womb
- Ruth 1:12 Lit. to have a husband
- Ruth 1:12 The Heb. lacks this very night
- Ruth 1:13 Lit. because the hand of
- Ruth 1:14 The Heb. lacks good-bye
- Ruth 1:15 The Heb. lacks to Ruth
- Ruth 1:17 The Heb. lacks anything
- Ruth 1:18 The Heb. lacks Naomi
- Ruth 1:18 Lit. her
- Ruth 1:19 Lit. at them
- Ruth 1:20 I.e. pleasant
- Ruth 1:20 I.e. bitter
- Ruth 1:21 Or has done evil toward
- Ruth 1:22 The Heb. lacks to Bethlehem
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