Ruth 1:1–13

1 And it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man went from Bethlehem-Judah, to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons. 2 And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem-Judah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there. 3 And Elimelech Naomi’s husband died; and she was left, and her two sons. 4 And they took them Moabitish wives; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the second Ruth: and they abode there about ten years. 5 And Mahlon and Chilion died also, both of them; and the woman was left of her two children and of her husband.

6  And she arose, she and her daughters-in-law, and returned from the fields of Moab; for she had heard in the fields of Moab how that Jehovah had visited his people to give them bread. 7  Wherefore she went forth out of the place where she had been, and her two daughters-in-law with her; and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. 8  And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, Go, return each to her mother’s house. Jehovah deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead and with me. 9  Jehovah grant you that ye may find rest, each in the house of her husband. And she kissed them; and they lifted up their voice and wept. 10  And they said to her, We will certainly return with thee to thy people. 11  And Naomi said, Return, my daughters: why will ye go with me? Are there yet sons in my womb, that they could be your husbands? 12  Return, my daughters, go; for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say, I have hope, should I even have a husband to-night, and should I also bear sons, 13  would ye wait on that account till they were grown? Would ye stay on that account from having husbands? No, my daughters, for I am in much more bitterness than you; for the hand of Jehovah is gone out against me.