Ruth 1:15–22

¹⁵Naomi said, “Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her god. ^stFollow your sister-in-law.”

¹⁶But Ruth replied:

Do not persuade me to leave you

or go back and not follow you.

For wherever you go, I will go,

and wherever you live, I will live;

your people will be my people,

and your God will be my God.

¹⁷Where you die, I will die,

and there I will be buried.

May Yahweh punish me, ^uv

and do so severely,

if anything but death separates you and me.

¹⁸When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped trying to persuade her.

¹⁹The two of them traveled until they came to Bethlehem. When they entered Bethlehem, the whole town was excited about their arrival ^wxand the local women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”

²⁰“Don’t call me Naomi. Call me Mara,” ^yshe answered, ^z“for the Almighty ^ahas made me very bitter. ^b21I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. ^cWhy do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has pronounced judgment on ^dme, and the Almighty has afflicted me?”

²²So Naomi came back from the land of Moab with her daughter-in-law Ruth the Moabitess. They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest. ^e