In the days when the judges ruled, a famine came upon the land. A man from Bethlehem in Judah went to live in Moab with his wife and two sons. His name was Elimelech, his wife was Naomi, and their sons were Mahlon and Chilion.
Elimelech died in Moab, leaving Naomi with her sons. The sons married Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth. They lived there about ten years. Then Mahlon and Chilion also died, and Naomi was left without her husband and both sons.
Naomi heard in Moab that God had visited his people and given them food in Bethlehem. She set out with her two daughters-in-law to return to Judah. On the way she told them to go back, each to her mother’s house. She prayed that God would show them kindness and give them rest in the homes of new husbands.
The women wept and first said they would return with Naomi to her people. Naomi asked whether she could still have sons who would become their husbands. Even if she married that night and bore sons, could they wait for them to grow up? She said that her own trouble was greater than theirs.
Naomi repeated that her daughters-in-law should return. She was too old to have another husband, she said, and even if she married that night and bore sons, they could not wait for those sons to grow up. She did not want them to delay marriage because of her. God’s hand had gone out against her, and her grief was greater than theirs.
They wept again. Orpah kissed Naomi and returned, but Ruth held on to her. Naomi told Ruth that Orpah had gone back to her people and gods and urged Ruth to follow.
Ruth asked Naomi not to press her to leave. Where Naomi went, she would go; where Naomi stayed, she would stay. Naomi’s people would be her people, and Naomi’s God would be her God. Where Naomi died, Ruth would die and be buried. Only death, she said, would separate them.
Ruth made this promise before God, asking that nothing but death separate her from Naomi. The place she named was not Moab or her mother’s home, but the place Naomi would go, stay, die, and be buried. Naomi saw that Ruth was firmly determined to travel with her.
Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her and said no more. They reached Bethlehem, and the whole town stirred because of them. Women asked whether this was Naomi.
Naomi asked them not to call her Naomi but Mara, saying that the Almighty had made her life very bitter. She had left full but had returned empty. She asked why they called her Naomi when God had dealt against her and brought calamity upon her. Naomi returned from Moab with Ruth, her Moabite daughter-in-law, at the beginning of the barley harvest.