Ruth 1:8-22
English Standard Version
Chapter 1
8But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Go, return each of you to her mother 's house. May the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. 9The Lord grant that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband!" Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept. 10And they said to her, "No, we will return with you to your people." 11But Naomi said, "Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? 12Turn back, my daughters; go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, even if I should have a husband this night and should bear sons, 13would you therefore wait till they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me." 14Then they lifted up their voices and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.
15And she said, "See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law."
16But Ruth said, "Do not urge me to leave you or to return 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.
17Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you."
18And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more.
19So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them. And the women said, "Is this Naomi?"
20She said to them, "Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.
21I went away full, and the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the Lord has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?"
