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

¹⁵ But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites,^(A) in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household,^(B) we will serve the Lord.”^(C)

² Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here;^(A) the Lord has sent me to Bethel.”

But Elisha said, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.”^(B) So they went down to Bethel.

¹⁹ The king said to Ittai^(A) the Gittite, “Why should you come along with us? Go back and stay with King Absalom. You are a foreigner,^(B) an exile from your homeland. ²⁰ You came only yesterday. And today shall I make you wander^(C) about with us, when I do not know where I am going? Go back, and take your people with you. May the Lord show you kindness and faithfulness.”^[a](D)

¹⁹ They went out from us,^(A) but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.^(B)

³⁸ And,

²⁸ As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther.