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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://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 NLT</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></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="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">NLT</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"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New Living Translation</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/nlt/esv/ruth/1.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></td></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><p class="hdg">Elimelech Moves His Family to Moab</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ruth/1-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>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. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ruth/1-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>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.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ruth/1-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>Then Elimelech died, and Naomi was left with her two sons. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ruth/1-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>The two sons married Moabite women. One married a woman named Orpah, and the other a woman named Ruth. But about ten years later, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ruth/1-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>both Mahlon and Kilion died. This left Naomi alone, without her two sons or her husband.</p><p class="hdg">Naomi and Ruth Return</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ruth/1-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>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. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ruth/1-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>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.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ruth/1-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>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. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ruth/1-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>May the LORD bless you with the security of another marriage.” Then she kissed them good-bye, and they all broke down and wept.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ruth/1-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>“No,” they said. “We want to go with you to your people.”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ruth/1-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>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? <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ruth/1-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>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? <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ruth/1-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>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.”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ruth/1-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>And again they wept together, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye. But Ruth clung tightly to Naomi. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ruth/1-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>“Look,” Naomi said to her, “your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods. You should do the same.”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ruth/1-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>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. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ruth/1-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>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!” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ruth/1-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said nothing more.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ruth/1-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>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.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ruth/1-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>“Don’t call me Naomi,” she responded. “Instead, call me Mara,<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">a</span></a> for the Almighty has made life very bitter for me. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ruth/1-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>I went away full, but the LORD has brought me home empty. Why call me Naomi when the LORD has caused me to suffer<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">b</span></a> and the Almighty has sent such tragedy upon me?”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ruth/1-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>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.</p><A name="footnotes"></a><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="fn">a</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">1:20 </span><span class="it">Naomi</span><span class="ft"> means “pleasant”; </span><span class="it">Mara</span><span class="ft"> means “bitter.”</span><br><span class="fn">b</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">1:21 </span><span class="ft">Or </span><span class="it">has testified against me.</span><br></span></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center"><em>Holy Bible</em>, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of <a href="http://www.tyndale.com">Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.</a>, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. 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