¹ And it cometh to pass, in the days of the judging of the judges, that there is a famine in the land, and there goeth a man from Beth-Lehem-Judah to sojourn in the fields of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.

² And the name of the man is Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites from Beth-Lehem-Judah; and they come into the fields of Moab, and are there.

³ And Elimelech husband of Naomi dieth, and she is left, she and her two sons;

⁴ and they take to them wives, Moabitesses: the name of the one is Orpah, and the name of the second Ruth; and they dwell there about ten years.

⁵ And they die also, both of them--Mahlon and Chilion--and the woman is left of her two children and of her husband.

⁶ And she riseth, she and her daughters-in-law, and turneth back from the fields of Moab, for she hath heard in the fields of Moab that God hath looked after His people, --to give to them bread.

⁷ And she goeth out from the place where she hath been, and her two daughters-in-law with her, and they go in the way to turn back unto the land of Judah.

⁸ And Naomi saith to her two daughters-in-law, `Go, turn back, each to the house of her mother; Jehovah doth with you kindness as ye have done with the dead, and with me;

⁹ Jehovah doth grant to you, and find ye rest each in the house of her husband;' and she kisseth them, and they lift up their voice and weep.

¹⁰ And they say to her, `Surely with thee we go back to thy people.'

¹¹ And Naomi saith, `Turn back, my daughters; why do ye go with me? are there yet to me sons in my bowels that they have been to you for husbands?

¹² Turn back, my daughters, go, for I am too aged to be to a husband; though I had said, There is for me hope, also, I have been to-night to a husband, and also I have borne sons:

¹³ for them do ye wait till that they grow up? for them do ye shut yourselves up, not to be to a husband? nay, my daughters, for more bitter to me than to you, for the hand of Jehovah hath gone out against me.'

¹⁴ And they lift up their voice, and weep again, and Orpah kisseth her mother-in-law, and Ruth hath cleaved to her.

¹⁵ And she saith, `Lo, thy sister-in-law hath turned back unto her people, and unto her god, turn thou back after thy sister-in-law.'

¹⁶ And Ruth saith, `Urge me not to leave thee--to turn back from after thee; for whither thou goest I go, and where thou lodgest I lodge; thy people is my people, and thy God my God.

¹⁷ Where thou diest I die, and there I am buried; thus doth Jehovah to me, and thus doth He add--for death itself doth part between me and thee.'

¹⁸ And she seeth that she is strengthening herself to go with her, and she ceaseth to speak unto her;

¹⁹ and they go both of them till their coming in to Beth-Lehem; and it cometh to pass at their coming in to Beth-Lehem, that all the city is moved at them, and they say, `Is this Naomi?'

²⁰ And she saith unto them, `Call me not Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly to me,

²¹ I went out full, and empty hath Jehovah brought me back, why do ye call me Naomi, and Jehovah hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath done evil to me?'

²² And Naomi turneth back, and Ruth the Moabitess her daughter-in-law with her, who hath turned back from the fields of Moab, and they have come in to Beth-Lehem at the commencement of barley-harvest.