Elimelech’s Family Goes to Moab
1 Now it came to pass, in the days when Judg. 2:16–18the judges ruled, that there was Gen. 12:10; 26:1; 2 Kin. 8:1a famine in the land. And a certain man of Judg. 17:8; Mic. 5:2Bethlehem, Judah, went to dwell in the country of Gen. 19:37Moab, he and his wife and his two sons.
16 But Ruth said:
2 Kin. 2:2, 4, 6"Entreat me not to leave you,
Orto turn back from following after you;
For wherever you go, I will go;
And wherever you lodge, I will lodge;
Ruth 2:11, 12Your people shallbe my people,
And your God, my God.
17 Where you die, I will die,
And there will I be buried.
1 Sam. 3:17; 2 Sam. 19:13; 2 Kin. 6:31The Lord do so to me, and more also,
If anythingbut death parts you and me."
20 But she said to them, "Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. 21 I went out full, Job 1:21and the Lord has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?"