“Stop urging me to abandon you! 1
For wherever you go, I will go.
Wherever you live, I will live.
Your people will become my people,
and your God will become my God.
1:17 Wherever you die, I will die – and there I will be buried.
May the Lord punish me severely if I do not keep my promise! 2
Only death will be able to separate me from you!” 3
1:18 When Naomi 4 realized that Ruth 5 was determined to go with her, she stopped trying to dissuade her. 6 1:19 So the two of them 7 journeyed together until they arrived in Bethlehem. 8
When they entered 9 Bethlehem, 10 the whole village was excited about their arrival. 11 The women of the village said, 12 “Can this be Naomi?” 13 1:20 But she replied 14 to them, 15 “Don’t call me ‘Naomi’! 16 Call me ‘Mara’ 17 because the Sovereign One 18 has treated me very harshly. 19 1:21 I left here full, 20 but the Lord has caused me to return empty-handed. 21 Why do you call me ‘Naomi,’ seeing that 22 the Lord has opposed me, 23 and the Sovereign One 24 has caused me to suffer?” 25 1:22 So Naomi returned, accompanied by her Moabite daughter-in-law Ruth, who came back with her from the region of Moab. 26 (Now they 27 arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.) 28