¹⁶ But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you^(A) or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go,^(B) and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people^(C) and your God my God.^{(D) 17} Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely,^(E) if even death separates you and me.”^(F)

²¹ But Ittai replied to the king, “As surely as the Lord lives, and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king may be, whether it means life or death, there will your servant be.”^(A)

¹⁰ for Demas,^(A) because he loved this world,^(B) has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica.^(C) Crescens has gone to Galatia,^(D) and Titus^(E) to Dalmatia. ¹¹ Only Luke^(F) is with me.^(G) Get Mark^(H) and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry. ¹² I sent Tychicus^(I) to Ephesus.^(J)