Ruth 1:14-22

New International Version

¹⁴ At this they wept^(A) aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law^(B) goodbye,^(C) but Ruth clung to her.^(D)

¹⁵ “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law^(E) is going back to her people and her gods.^(F) Go back with her.”

¹⁶ But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you^(G) or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go,^(H) and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people^(I) and your God my God.^{(J) 17} Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely,^(K) if even death separates you and me.”^{(L) 18} When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.^(M)

¹⁹ So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem.^(N) When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred^(O) because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”

²⁰ “Don’t call me Naomi,^[a]” she told them. “Call me Mara,^[b] because the Almighty^[c](P) has made my life very bitter.^{(Q) 21} I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty.^(R) Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted^[d] me;^(S) the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”

²² So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite,^(T) her daughter-in-law,^(U) arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest^(V) was beginning.^(W)