¹It happened in the days of those who judge that there was a famine in the land, and a man went from Beth-lechem of Judah to live in the field of Moab, he and his wife and the two of his sons.

²The man's name was Elimelech, his wife's name was Naomi, and his two sons' names were Mahlon and Kilion; they were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They came into the land of Moab and stayed there.

³Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left, she and the two of her sons.

⁴They took for themselves wives of Moab: the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the second Ruth. They dwelled there about ten years.

⁵Also the two of them, Mahlon and Kilion, died, and the woman was left from the two of her children and from her husband.

⁶She and her daughters-in-law rose and returned from the field of Moab, for she had heard in the field of Moab that Yahweh had visited his people to set food to them.

⁷She went out from 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.

⁸Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, Go back, each of you to her mother's house. May Yahweh deal in loyal love with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me.

⁹May Yahweh give to you that you find rest, each woman in the house of her husband. She kissed them, and they lifted up their voice and wept.

¹⁰They said to her, With you we will return to your people.

¹¹Naomi said, Return, my daughters; why will you go with me? Are there again children in my womb and they will be your husbands?

¹²Go back, my daughters, go; for I am too old to be married to a man. Even if I thought, There is hope for me, even if I were married to a man tonight and also bore sons,

¹³would you wait until they will become great? Would you shut yourselves to not be to a man? No, my daughters, it is bitter to me exceedingly more than you, for the hand of Yahweh went forth against me.

¹⁴They lifted up their voice and wept again, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth cleaved to her.

¹⁵She said, Your sister-in-law returned to her people and to her God; return after your sister-in-law.

¹⁶Ruth said, "Do not press me to abandon you, to turn back from following you; for where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge; your people will be my people, and your God my God."

¹⁷In which you will die I will die, and there I will be interred. May Yahweh do so to me, and more also, surely the death will part between me and between you.

¹⁸When she saw that she stood firm on going with her, she stopped speaking to her.

¹⁹The two of them went until they came to Beth-lechem. There was, as they came to Beth-lechem, all the city stirred over them, and they said, Is this Naomi?

²⁰She said to them, Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has caused bitterness to me exceedingly.

²¹I went full, and Yahweh returned me empty. Why will you call me Naomi, and Yahweh has testified against me, and the Almighty has dealt ill with me?

²²So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabite her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the field of Moab; and they came to Beth-lechem in the beginning of the harvest of the barleys.