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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>Ruth 1 GNT</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/ruth/1.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/ruth/1-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">GNT</a> > Ruth 1</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../judges/21.htm" title="Judges 21">◄</a> Ruth 1 <a href="../ruth/2.htm" title="Ruth 2">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Good News Translation</div><div class="chap"><h3 class="s">Elimelech and His Family Move to Moab</h3><p class="par"><span class="v8_1_1"><span class="reftext" id="Ruth.1.1-Ruth.1.2" class="v8_1_1">1-2</span>Long ago, in the days before Israel had a king, there was a famine in the land. So a man named Elimelech, who belonged to the clan of Ephrath and who lived in Bethlehem in Judah, went with his wife Naomi and their two sons Mahlon and Chilion to live for a while in the country of Moab. While they were living there, </span><span class="v8_1_3"><span class="reftext" id="Ruth.1.3" class="v8_1_3">3</span>Elimelech died, and Naomi was left alone with her two sons, </span><span class="v8_1_4"><span class="reftext" id="Ruth.1.4" class="v8_1_4">4</span>who married Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth. About ten years later </span><span class="v8_1_5"><span class="reftext" id="Ruth.1.5" class="v8_1_5">5</span>Mahlon and Chilion also died, and Naomi was left all alone, without husband or sons.</span></p><h3 class="s">Naomi and Ruth Return to Bethlehem</h3><p class="par"><span class="v8_1_6"><span class="reftext" id="Ruth.1.6" class="v8_1_6">6</span>Some time later Naomi heard that the <span class="nd">Lord</span> had blessed his people by giving them good crops; so she got ready to leave Moab with her daughters-in-law. </span><span class="v8_1_7"><span class="reftext" id="Ruth.1.7" class="v8_1_7">7</span>They started out together to go back to Judah, but on the way </span><span class="v8_1_8"><span class="reftext" id="Ruth.1.8" class="v8_1_8">8</span>she said to them, “Go back home and stay with your mothers. May the <span class="nd">Lord</span> be as good to you as you have been to me and to those who have died. </span><span class="v8_1_9"><span class="reftext" id="Ruth.1.9" class="v8_1_9">9</span>And may the <span class="nd">Lord</span> make it possible for each of you to marry again and have a home.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v8_1_9">So Naomi kissed them good-bye. But they started crying </span><span class="v8_1_10"><span class="reftext" id="Ruth.1.10" class="v8_1_10">10</span>and said to her, “No! We will go with you to your people.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v8_1_11"><span class="reftext" id="Ruth.1.11" class="v8_1_11">11</span>“You must go back, my daughters,” Naomi answered. “Why do you want to come with me? Do you think I could have sons again for you to marry? </span><span class="v8_1_12"><span class="reftext" id="Ruth.1.12" class="v8_1_12">12</span>Go back home, for I am too old to get married again. Even if I thought there was still hope, and so got married tonight and had sons, </span><span class="v8_1_13"><span class="reftext" id="Ruth.1.13" class="v8_1_13">13</span>would you wait until they had grown up? Would this keep you from marrying someone else? No, my daughters, you know that's impossible. The <span class="nd">Lord</span> has turned against me, and I feel very sorry for you.”<a href="#fn" id="link_Ruth.1.13!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> </span></p><p class="par"><span class="v8_1_14"><span class="reftext" id="Ruth.1.14" class="v8_1_14">14</span>Again they started crying. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye and went back home,<a href="#fn" id="link_Ruth.1.14!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> but Ruth held on to her. </span><span class="v8_1_15"><span class="reftext" id="Ruth.1.15" class="v8_1_15">15</span>So Naomi said to her, “Ruth, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her god.<a href="#fn" id="link_Ruth.1.15!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> Go back home with her.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v8_1_16"><span class="reftext" id="Ruth.1.16" class="v8_1_16">16</span>But Ruth answered, “Don't ask me to leave you! Let me go with you. 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. </span><span class="v8_1_17"><span class="reftext" id="Ruth.1.17" class="v8_1_17">17</span>Wherever you die, I will die, and that is where I will be buried. May the <span class="nd">Lord</span>'s worst punishment come upon me if I let anything but death<a href="#fn" id="link_Ruth.1.17!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> separate me from you!”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v8_1_18"><span class="reftext" id="Ruth.1.18" class="v8_1_18">18</span>When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said nothing more.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v8_1_19"><span class="reftext" id="Ruth.1.19" class="v8_1_19">19</span>They went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived, the whole town became excited, and the women there exclaimed, “Is this really Naomi?”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v8_1_20"><span class="reftext" id="Ruth.1.20" class="v8_1_20">20</span>“Don't call me Naomi,” she answered; “call me Marah,<a href="#fn" id="link_Ruth.1.20!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> because Almighty God has made my life bitter. </span><span class="v8_1_21"><span class="reftext" id="Ruth.1.21" class="v8_1_21">21</span>When I left here, I had plenty, but the <span class="nd">Lord</span> has brought me back without a thing. Why call me Naomi when the <span class="nd">Lord</span> Almighty has condemned me and sent me trouble?”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v8_1_22"><span class="reftext" id="Ruth.1.22" class="v8_1_22">22</span>This, then, was how Naomi came back from Moab with Ruth, her Moabite daughter-in-law. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the barley harvest was just beginning.</span></p><a name="fn"></a><br /><br /><br /><b>Footnotes:<br /><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">1.13: </char><char style="fq" closed="false">sorry for you; </char><char style="ft" closed="false">or </char><char style="fq" closed="false">bitter about what has happened to you.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">1.14: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">One ancient translation </char><char style="fq" closed="false">and went back home; </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Hebrew does not have these words.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">1.15: </char><char style="fq" closed="false">god; </char><char style="ft" closed="false">or </char><char style="fq" closed="false">gods.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">1.17: </char><char style="fq" closed="false">anything but death; </char><char style="ft" closed="false">or </char><char style="fq" closed="false">even death.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">1.20: </char><char style="fk" closed="false">Naomi … Marah: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">In Hebrew Naomi means “pleasant” and Marah means “bitter.”</char></note></div></div><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div align="center"><p><span style="font-size:11pt;">Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt;">© 1992 American Bible Society. 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