¹⁶But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you^h or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go,ⁱ and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people^j and your God my God.^k ¹⁷Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely,^l if even death separates you and me.”^m ¹⁸When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.ⁿ

¹⁹So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem.^o When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred^p because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”

²⁰“Don’t call me Naomi,^b” she told them. “Call me Mara,^c because the Almighty^d^q has made my life very bitter.^r ²¹I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty.^s Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted^e me;^t the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”

²²So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite,^u her daughter-in-law,^v arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest^w was beginning.^x

Read in Logos

Ruth 1:16: But 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.

Footnotes

bNaomi means pleasant.
cMara means bitter.
dHebrew Shaddai; also in verse 21
eOr has testified against

Cross references

f Dt 25:7
gSee Jos 24:14
h 2 Ki 2:2
i Ge 24:58
j Ps 45:10
kSee Jos 24:15
l 1 Sa 3:17; 14:44; 20:13; 25:22; 2 Sa 3:9, 35; 2 Sa 19:13; 1 Ki 2:23; 19:2; 20:10; 2 Ki 6:31
m 2 Sa 15:21
n Ac 21:14
oSee Jdg 17:7
p Mt 21:10
qSee Ge 15:1; See 17:1; Ps 91:1
rSee ver 13
s Job 1:21
t Job 30:11; Ps 88:7; Isa 53:4
u Ru 2:2, 6, 21; 4:5, 10
vSee Ge 11:31
wSee Ex 9:31; See Lev 19:9
x 2 Sa 21:9