¹⁹ The two of them traveled until they came to Bethlehem. When they entered Bethlehem, the whole town was excited about their arrival^[a](A) and the local women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”

²⁰ “Don’t call me Naomi. Call me Mara,”^[b] she answered, “for the Almighty^(B) has made me very bitter.^{(C) 21} I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty.^(D) Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has opposed^[c] me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?”

²² So Naomi came back from the territory of Moab with her daughter-in-law Ruth the Moabitess. They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.^(E)

Ruth and Boaz Meet

2 Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side. He was a prominent man of noble character^(F) from Elimelech’s family. His name was Boaz.

² Ruth the Moabitess asked Naomi, “Will you let me go into the fields and gather fallen grain^(G) behind someone with whom I find favor?”

Naomi answered her, “Go ahead, my daughter.” ³ So Ruth left and entered the field to gather grain behind the harvesters. She happened^(H) to be in the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was from Elimelech’s family.

⁹ A poem by King Hezekiah of Judah after he had been sick and had recovered from his illness:

⁸ More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value^(A) of knowing Christ^(B) Jesus my Lord. Because of him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ^{(C) 9} and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law,^(D) but one that is through faith in Christ^[a]—the righteousness from God based on faith.^{(E) 10} My goal is to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings,^(F) being conformed to his death,^{(G) 11} assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead.