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Ruth 1 :: New International Version (NIV)

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Naomi Loses Her Husband and Sons

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Unchecked Copy Box Rth 1:1

Unchecked Copy BoxRth 1:1 - In the days when the judges ruled,[fn] there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab.

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Unchecked Copy Box Rth 1:2

Unchecked Copy BoxRth 1:2 - The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.

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Unchecked Copy Box Rth 1:3

Unchecked Copy BoxRth 1:3 - Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons.

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Unchecked Copy Box Rth 1:4

Unchecked Copy BoxRth 1:4 - They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years,

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Unchecked Copy Box Rth 1:5

Unchecked Copy BoxRth 1:5 - both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.

Naomi and Ruth Return to Bethlehem

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Unchecked Copy Box Rth 1:6

Unchecked Copy BoxRth 1:6 - When Naomi heard in Moab that the LORD had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there.

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Unchecked Copy Box Rth 1:7

Unchecked Copy BoxRth 1:7 - With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.

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Unchecked Copy Box Rth 1:8

Unchecked Copy BoxRth 1:8 - Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the LORD show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me.

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Unchecked Copy Box Rth 1:9

Unchecked Copy BoxRth 1:9 - May the LORD grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.” Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud

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Unchecked Copy Box Rth 1:10

Unchecked Copy BoxRth 1:10 - and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Rth 1:11

Unchecked Copy BoxRth 1:11 - But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands?

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Unchecked Copy Box Rth 1:12

Unchecked Copy BoxRth 1:12 - Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons—

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Unchecked Copy Box Rth 1:13

Unchecked Copy BoxRth 1:13 - would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the LORD’s hand has turned against me!”

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Unchecked Copy Box Rth 1:14

Unchecked Copy BoxRth 1:14 - At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.

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Unchecked Copy Box Rth 1:15

Unchecked Copy BoxRth 1:15 - “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Rth 1:16

Unchecked Copy BoxRth 1:16 - But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.

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Unchecked Copy Box Rth 1:17

Unchecked Copy BoxRth 1:17 - Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Rth 1:18

Unchecked Copy BoxRth 1:18 - When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.

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Unchecked Copy Box Rth 1:19

Unchecked Copy BoxRth 1:19 - So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”

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Unchecked Copy Box Rth 1:20

Unchecked Copy BoxRth 1:20 - “Don’t call me Naomi,[fn]” she told them. “Call me Mara,[fn] because the Almighty[fn] has made my life very bitter.

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Unchecked Copy Box Rth 1:21

Unchecked Copy BoxRth 1:21 - I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The LORD has afflicted[fn] me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Rth 1:22

Unchecked Copy BoxRth 1:22 - So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.
See the NIV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).
NIV Footnotes
Traditionally judged
Naomi means pleasant.
Mara means bitter.
Hebrew Shaddai; also in verse 21
Or has testified against
NIV

HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV®
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.
Used with permission. All rights reserved worldwide.


See detailed copyright information.

For more information on this translation, see the NIV Preface.

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Ruth Chapter 1 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New Living Translation English Standard Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Westminster Leningrad Codex Septuagint Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Brenton's English Septuagint Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras