Ruth 1:15–22

¹⁵“Look,” said Naomi. “Your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.”

¹⁶But Ruth replied, “Don’t try to make me leave you and go back. Where you go I’ll go. Where you stay I’ll stay. Your people will be my people. Your God will be my God. ¹⁷Where you die I’ll die. And there my body will be buried. I won’t let anything except death separate you from me. If I do, may the Lord punish me greatly.”

¹⁸Naomi realized that Ruth had made up her mind to go with her. So she stopped trying to make her go back.

¹⁹The two women continued on their way. At last they arrived in Bethlehem. The whole town was stirred up because of them. The women asked, “Can this possibly be Naomi?”

²⁰“Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara. The Mighty One has made my life very bitter. ²¹I was full when I went away. But the Lord has brought me back empty. So why are you calling me Naomi? The Lord has made me suffer. The Mighty One has brought trouble on me.”

²²So Naomi returned from Moab. Ruth, her daughter-in-law from Moab, came with her. They arrived in Bethlehem just when people were beginning to harvest the barley.