Ruth 1:19-22

New International Reader's Version

¹⁹ The two women continued on their way. At last they arrived in Bethlehem. The whole town was stirred up because of them. The women in the town asked, “Can this possibly be Naomi?”

²⁰ “Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara. The Mighty One has made my life very bitter. ²¹ I was full when I went away. But the Lord has brought me back empty. So why are you calling me Naomi? The Lord has made me suffer. The Mighty One has brought trouble on me.”

²² So Naomi returned from Moab. Ruth, her daughter-in-law from Moab, came with her. They arrived in Bethlehem just when people were beginning to harvest the barley.