1:1 | IN THE days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem of Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, his wife, and his two sons.

1:4 | And they took wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. They dwelt there about ten years;

1:5 | And Mahlon and Chilion died also, both of them, so the woman was bereft of her two sons and her husband.

1:6 | Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in Moab how the Lord had visited His people in giving them food.

1:7 | So she left the place where she was, her two daughters-in-law with her, and they started on the way back to Judah.

1:9 | The Lord grant that you may find a home and rest, each in the house of her husband! Then she kissed them and they wept aloud.

1:10 | And they said to her, No, we will return with you to your people.

1:11 | But Naomi said, Turn back, my daughters, why will you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb that may become your husbands?

1:12 | Turn back, my daughters, go; for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, even if I should have a husband tonight and should bear sons,

1:13 | Would you therefore wait till they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters; it is far more bitter for me than for you that the hand of the Lord is gone out against me.

1:14 | Then they wept aloud again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law [good-bye], but Ruth clung to her.

1:15 | And Naomi said, See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.

1:16 | And Ruth said, Urge me not to leave you or to turn back from following you; for where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people and your God my God.

1:17 | Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts me from you.

1:18 | When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said no more.

1:19 | So they both went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred about them, and said, Is this Naomi?

1:20 | And she said to them, Call me not Naomi [pleasant]; call me Mara [bitter], for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.

1:21 | I went out full, but the Lord has brought me home again empty. Why call me Naomi, since the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?

1:22 | So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her, who returned from the country of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.