Naomi Widowed

(1 Timothy 5:3-16)

1And it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man went from Bethlehem-Judah, to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons. 2And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem-Judah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there. 3And Elimelech Naomi's husband died; and she was left, and her two sons. 4And they took them Moabitish wives; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the second Ruth: and they abode there about ten years. 5And Mahlon and Chilion died also, both of them; and the woman was left of her two children and of her husband.

Ruth's Loyalty to Naomi

6And she arose, she and her daughters-in-law, and returned from the fields of Moab; for she had heard in the fields of Moab how that Jehovah had visited his people to give them bread. 7Wherefore she went forth out of 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. 8And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, Go, return each to her mother's house. Jehovah deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead and with me. 9Jehovah grant you that ye may find rest, each in the house of her husband. And she kissed them; and they lifted up their voice and wept. 10And they said to her, We will certainly return with thee to thy people. 11And Naomi said, Return, my daughters: why will ye go with me? Are there yet sons in my womb, that they could be your husbands? 12Return, my daughters, go; for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say, I have hope, should I even have a husband to-night, and should I also bear sons, 13would ye wait on that account till they were grown? Would ye stay on that account from having husbands? No, my daughters, for I am in much more bitterness than you; for the hand of Jehovah is gone out against me.

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

15And she said, Behold, thy sister-in-law is gone back to her people and to her gods: return after thy sister-in-law. 16And Ruth said, Do not intreat me to leave thee, to return from [following] after thee; for whither thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God; 17where thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried. Jehovah do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part me and thee! 18And when she saw that she was stedfastly minded to go with her, she left off speaking to her.

Naomi and Ruth Return to Bethlehem

19And they two went until they came to Bethlehem. And it came to pass, when they came to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about them, and the [women] said, Is this Naomi? 20And she said to them, Call me not Naomi -- call me Mara; for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. 21I went out full, and Jehovah has brought me home again empty. Why do ye call me Naomi, seeing Jehovah has brought me low, and the Almighty has afflicted me?

22So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her, who returned out of the fields of Moab; and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of the barley-harvest.