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Ruth 1 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

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Elimelech Moves His Family to Moab

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Unchecked Copy Box Rth 1:1

Unchecked Copy BoxRth 1:1 - In the days when the judges ruled in Israel, a severe famine came upon the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah left his home and went to live in the country of Moab, taking his wife and two sons with him.

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Unchecked Copy Box Rth 1:2

Unchecked Copy BoxRth 1:2 - The man’s name was Elimelech, and his wife was Naomi. Their two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in the land of Judah. And when they reached Moab, they settled there.

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Unchecked Copy Box Rth 1:3

Unchecked Copy BoxRth 1:3 - Then Elimelech died, and Naomi was left with her two sons.

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Unchecked Copy Box Rth 1:4

Unchecked Copy BoxRth 1:4 - The two sons married Moabite women. One married a woman named Orpah, and the other a woman named Ruth. But about ten years later,

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Unchecked Copy Box Rth 1:5

Unchecked Copy BoxRth 1:5 - both Mahlon and Kilion died. This left Naomi alone, without her two sons or her husband.
Naomi and Ruth Return

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Unchecked Copy Box Rth 1:6

Unchecked Copy BoxRth 1:6 - Then Naomi heard in Moab that the LORD had blessed his people in Judah by giving them good crops again. So Naomi and her daughters-in-law got ready to leave Moab to return to her homeland.

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Unchecked Copy Box Rth 1:7

Unchecked Copy BoxRth 1:7 - With her two daughters-in-law she set out from the place where she had been living, and they took the road that would lead them back to Judah.

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Unchecked Copy Box Rth 1:8

Unchecked Copy BoxRth 1:8 - But on the way, Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back to your mothers’ homes. And may the LORD reward you for your kindness to your husbands and to me.

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Unchecked Copy Box Rth 1:9

Unchecked Copy BoxRth 1:9 - May the LORD bless you with the security of another marriage.” Then she kissed them good-bye, and they all broke down and wept.

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Unchecked Copy Box Rth 1:10

Unchecked Copy BoxRth 1:10 - “No,” they said. “We want to go with you to your people.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Rth 1:11

Unchecked Copy BoxRth 1:11 - But Naomi replied, “Why should you go on with me? Can I still give birth to other sons who could grow up to be your husbands?

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Unchecked Copy Box Rth 1:12

Unchecked Copy BoxRth 1:12 - No, my daughters, return to your parents’ homes, for I am too old to marry again. And even if it were possible, and I were to get married tonight and bear sons, then what?

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Unchecked Copy Box Rth 1:13

Unchecked Copy BoxRth 1:13 - Would you wait for them to grow up and refuse to marry someone else? No, of course not, my daughters! Things are far more bitter for me than for you, because the LORD himself has raised his fist against me.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Rth 1:14

Unchecked Copy BoxRth 1:14 - And again they wept together, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye. But Ruth clung tightly to Naomi.

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Unchecked Copy Box Rth 1:15

Unchecked Copy BoxRth 1:15 - “Look,” Naomi said to her, “your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods. You should do the same.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Rth 1:16

Unchecked Copy BoxRth 1:16 - But Ruth replied, “Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.

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Unchecked Copy Box Rth 1:17

Unchecked Copy BoxRth 1:17 - Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!”

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Unchecked Copy Box Rth 1:18

Unchecked Copy BoxRth 1:18 - When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said nothing more.

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Unchecked Copy Box Rth 1:19

Unchecked Copy BoxRth 1:19 - So the two of them continued on their journey. When they came to Bethlehem, the entire town was excited by their arrival. “Is it really Naomi?” the women asked.

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Unchecked Copy Box Rth 1:20

Unchecked Copy BoxRth 1:20 - “Don’t call me Naomi,” she responded. “Instead, call me Mara,[fn] for the Almighty has made life very bitter for me.

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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 home empty. Why call me Naomi when the LORD has caused me to suffer[fn] and the Almighty has sent such tragedy upon me?”

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Unchecked Copy Box Rth 1:22

Unchecked Copy BoxRth 1:22 - So Naomi returned from Moab, accompanied by her daughter-in-law Ruth, the young Moabite woman. They arrived in Bethlehem in late spring, at the beginning of the barley harvest.
See the NLT Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).
NLT Footnotes
Naomi means “pleasant”; Mara means “bitter.”
Or has testified against me.
NLT

Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Full copyright information is provided here. Visit the New Living Translation website.

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

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Ruth Chapter 1 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New International Version 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