Ruth 1:15-2:3
Easy-to-Read Version
15 Naomi said, “Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her own people and her own gods. You should do the same.”
16 But Ruth said, “Don’t force me to leave you! Don’t force me to go back to my own people. Let me go with you. Wherever you go, I will go. Wherever you sleep, I will sleep. Your people will be my people. Your God will be my God. 17 Where you die, I will die, and that is where I will be buried. I ask the Lord to punish me if I don’t keep this promise: Only death will separate us.”[a]
The Homecoming
18 Naomi saw that Ruth wanted very much to go with her. So Naomi stopped arguing with her. 19 Naomi and Ruth traveled until they came to the town of Bethlehem. When the two women entered Bethlehem, all the people were very excited. They said, “Is this Naomi?”
20 But Naomi told the people, “Don’t call me Naomi[b]; call me Marah.[c] Use this name because God All-Powerful has made my life very sad. 21 I had everything I wanted when I left, but now, the Lord brings me home with nothing. The Lord has made me sad, so why should you call me ‘Happy’[d]? God All-Powerful has given much trouble to me.”
22 So Naomi and her daughter-in-law Ruth, the Moabite, came back from the hill country of Moab. These two women came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.
Ruth Meets Boaz
2 There was a rich man named Boaz living in Bethlehem. Boaz was one of Naomi’s close relatives[e] from Elimelech’s family.
2 One day Ruth, the Moabite, said to Naomi, “I think I will go to the fields. Maybe I can find someone who will be kind to me and let me gather the grain they leave in their field.”
Naomi said, “Fine, daughter, go ahead.”
3 So Ruth went to the fields. She followed the workers who were cutting the grain and gathered the grain that was left.[f] It happened that part of the field belonged to Boaz, the man from Elimelech’s family.
Footnotes
- Ruth 1:17 I ask … separate us Literally, “May the Lord do this to me, and even more, unless death separates us!”
- Ruth 1:20 Naomi This name means “Happy” or “Pleasant.”
- Ruth 1:20 Marah This name means “Bitter” or “Sad.”
- Ruth 1:21 Happy This is the meaning of the name Naomi.
- Ruth 2:1 close relatives If a man died without children, one of his close relatives would take the dead man’s wife so that she could have children. He would care for this family, but this family and their property would not belong to him. They would all be in the dead man’s name.
- Ruth 2:3 There was a law that a farmer must leave some grain in his field during harvest, so poor people and travelers could find something to eat. See Lev. 19:9; 23:22.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International
Bible Gateway Recommends
