﻿Ruth.
Chapter 1.
In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. A man from Bethlehem in Judah went to live in the country of Moab with his wife and his two sons. 
The man’s name was Elimelech, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They came to the country of Moab and stayed there. 
Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. 
They took Moabite wives. One was named Orpah and the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years. 
Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and the woman was left without her two children and her husband. 
She arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the LORD had visited his people by giving them bread. 
She left the place where she had been, with her two daughters-in-law, and they went on the road to return to the land of Judah. 
Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each to her mother’s house. May the LORD show you kindness, as you have shown to the dead and to me. 
May the LORD grant that you find rest, each in her husband’s house.” Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept. 
They said to her, “We will certainly return with you to your people.” 
Naomi said, “Go back, my daughters. Why would you go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb who could become your husbands? 
Go back, my daughters; go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. Even if I said I had hope, even if I had a husband tonight and bore sons, 
would you wait for them until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is far more bitter for me than for you, for the hand of the LORD has gone out against me.” 
They lifted up their voices and wept again. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. 
Naomi said, “Your sister-in-law has returned to her people and her gods. Return after your sister-in-law.” 
But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you and turn back from following you. Where you go, I will go, and where you stay, I will stay. Your people will 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 more also. Only death will separate you and me.” 
When Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she stopped speaking to her. 
The two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they came to Bethlehem, the whole city was stirred because of them, and the women said, “Is this Naomi?” 
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, and the LORD has brought me back empty. Why do you call me Naomi, when the LORD has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?” 
So Naomi returned from the country of Moab, and Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, was with her. They came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest. 
