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1:1  Now it came about in the days when the judges governed, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the land of Moab with his wife and his two sons.
1:2  The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife, Naomi; and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem in Judah. Now they entered the land of Moab and remained there.
1:3  Then Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died; and she was left with her two sons.
1:4  They took for themselves Moabite women as wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. And they lived there about ten years.
1:5  Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and the woman was bereft of her two children and her husband.
1:6  Then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the land of Moab, for she had heard in the land of Moab that the LORD had visited His people in giving them food.
1:7  So she departed from the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her; and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah.
1:8  And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Go, return each of you to her mother's house. May the LORD deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me.
1:9  "May the LORD grant that you may find rest, each in the house of her husband." Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept.
1:10  And they said to her, "No, but we will surely return with you to your people."
1:11  But Naomi said, "Return, my daughters. Why should you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands?
1:12  "Return, my daughters! Go, for I am too old to have a husband. If I said I have hope, if I should even have a husband tonight and also bear sons,
1:13  would you therefore wait until they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters; for it is harder for me than for you, for the hand of the LORD has gone forth against me."
1:14  And they lifted up their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.
1:15  Then she said, "Behold, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her gods; return after your sister-in-law."
1:16  But Ruth said, "Do not urge me to leave you or turn back 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.
1:17  "Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the LORD do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me."
1:18  When she saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more to her.
1:19  So they both went until they came to Bethlehem. And when they had come to Bethlehem, all the city was stirred because of them, and the women said, "Is this Naomi?"
1:20  She said to them, "Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.
1:21  "I went out full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the LORD has witnessed against me and the Almighty has afflicted me?"
1:22  So Naomi returned, and with her Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, who returned from the land of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.