Naomi Widowed

Now it came about in the days when the judges governed, that there was a famine in the land. And a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to reside in the land of Moab with his wife and his two sons.

The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife, Naomi; and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem in Judah. So they entered the land of Moab and remained there.

Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left with her two sons.

Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.

Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the land of Moab, because she had heard in the land of Moab that the Lord had visited His people by giving them food.

So she departed from the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her; and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah.

But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each of you to your mother’s house. May the Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me.

May the Lord grant that you may find a place of rest, each one in the house of her husband.” Then she kissed them, and they raised their voices and wept.

However, they said to her, “No, but we will return with you to your people.”

But Naomi said, “Return, my daughters. Why should you go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands?

Return, my daughters! Go, for I am too old to have a husband. If I said I have hope, if I were even to have a husband tonight and also give birth to sons,

Then she said, “Behold, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her gods; return after your sister-in-law.”

But Ruth said, “Do not plead with me to leave you or to turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you sleep, I will sleep. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.

Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord do so to me, and worse, if anything but death separates me from you.”

When she saw that she was determined to go with her, she stopped speaking to her about it.

So they both went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they had come to Bethlehem, all the city was stirred because of them, and the women said, “Is this Naomi?”

But she said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.

I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has testified against me and the Almighty has afflicted me?”

So Naomi returned, and with her Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, who returned from the land of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.

And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Please let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain following one in whose eyes I may find favor.” And she said to her, “Go, my daughter.”

So she left and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers; and she happened to come to the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.

Now behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said to the reapers, “May the Lord be with you.” And they said to him, “May the Lord bless you.”

Then Boaz said to his servant who was in charge of the reapers, “Whose young woman is this?”

And the servant in charge of the reapers replied, “She is the young Moabite woman who returned with Naomi from the land of Moab.

And she said, ‘Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.’ So she came and has remained from the morning until now; she has been sitting in the house for a little while.”