1:1In the days of one judge, when the judges were ruling, a famine came about in the land. 1:1And a man went away from Bethlehem of Judah, to sojourn in the region of Moab with his wife and two children. 1:2He was called Elimelech, and his wife Naomi: and the two sons, one Mahlon, and the other Chilion, Ephrathites from Bethlehem of Judah. 1:2And having entered the region of Moab, they were staying there. 1:3And Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died: and she remained with her sons. 1:4They took Moabite wives, of whom one was called Orpah, but the other Ruth. 1:4And they stayed there for ten years, and both died, namely Mahlon and Chilion: and the woman remained, bereaved of her two children and her husband.
1:6And she rose to go into her homeland with both her daughters-in-law from the region of Moab: for she had heard that the Lord had looked upon his people, and had given them food. 1:7So she went out from the place of her sojourning, with both daughters-in-law: and, already set on the road of returning into the land of Judah, she said to them: "Go into the house of your mother: may the Lord do mercy with you, just as you have done with the dead, and with me. 1:9May he grant you to find rest in the houses of the husbands whom you are going to obtain." 1:9And she kissed them.
1:9They, their voice raised, began to weep, and to say: "With you we will go to your people." 1:11To them she answered: "Turn back, my daughters, why do you come with me? 1:11Do I have sons any more in my womb, that you can hope for husbands from me? 1:12Turn back, my daughters, and go away: for I am now worn out with old age, nor fit for the marriage bond: even if I could conceive this night, and bear sons, if you were willing to wait for them until they grew, and completed the years of puberty, you would be old women before you married. 1:13Do not, I beg, my daughters: for your distress weighs on me more, and the hand of the Lord has gone out against me."
1:14So, their voice raised, they began again to weep: Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, and turned back; 1:14Ruth clung to her mother-in-law: to whom Naomi said: "Look, your kinswoman has turned back to her people, and to her gods, go with her." 1:16She answered: "Do not oppose me, that I should leave you and go away: for wherever you go, I will go, and where you stay, I too will stay likewise. 1:16Your people my people, and your God my God. 1:17The land that receives you dying, in it I will die: and there I will receive a place of burial. 1:17May the Lord do these things to me, and add these things, if anything but death alone separates me and you."
1:18So Naomi, seeing that Ruth had decided with stubborn mind to go with her, would not oppose her, nor persuade her any more to return to her own people: and they set out together, and came into Bethlehem. 1:19When they had entered the city, a swift report spread among all: and the women were saying: "This is that Naomi." 1:20To them she said: "Do not call me Naomi (that is, beautiful), but call me Mara (that is, bitter), because the Almighty has filled me greatly with bitterness. 1:21I went out full, and the Lord has led me back empty. 1:21Why then do you call me Naomi, whom the Lord has humbled, and the Almighty has afflicted?"
1:22So Naomi came with Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, from the land of her sojourning: and she returned into Bethlehem, when the barley was first being reaped.