Ruth 1:2 - Prayer Tents

Ruth 1

Naomi’s Family in Moab

1During the time of the judges, there was a famine in the land. A man left Bethlehem in Judah with his wife and two sons to live in the land of Moab for a while.H3117H8199H8199H7458H776H376H1035H3063H3212H1481H7704H4124H802H8147H11212The man's name was Elimelech, and his wife's name was Naomi. The names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They entered the land of Moab and [settled] there.H8034H376H458H8034H802H5281H8034H8147H1121H4248H3630H673H1035H3063H935H7704H41243Naomi's husband Elimelech died, and she was left with her two sons.H458H5281H376H4191H7604H8147H11214Her sons took Moabite women as their wives: one was named Orpah and the second was named Ruth. After they lived in Moab about 10 years,H5375H802H802H4125H8034H259H6204H8034H8145H7327H3427H6235H81415both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two children and without her husband.H4248H3630H4191H8147H802H7604H8147H3206H376

Ruth’s Loyalty to Naomi

6She and her daughters-in-law prepared to leave the land of Moab, because she had heard in Moab that the LORD had paid attention to His people's [need] by providing them food.H6965H3618H7725H7704H4124H8085H7704H4124H3068H6485H5971H5414H38997She left the place where she had been living, accompanied by her two daughters-in-law, and traveled along the road leading back to the land of Judah.H3318H4725H8147H3618H3212H1870H7725H776H30638She said to them, "Each of you go back to your mother's home. May the LORD show faithful love to you as you have shown to the dead and to me.H5281H559H8147H3618H3212H7725H802H517H1004H3068H6213H2617H6213H41919May the LORD enable each of you to find security in the house of your [new] husband." She kissed them, and they wept loudly.H3068H5414H4672H4496H802H1004H376H5401H5375H6963H105810"No," they said to her. "We will go with you to your people."H559H7725H597111But Naomi replied, "Return home, my daughters. Why do you want to go with me? Am I able to have any more sons who could become your husbands?H5281H559H7725H1323H3212H1121H4578H58212Return home, my daughters. Go on, for I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was [still] hope for me to have a husband tonight and to bear sons,H7725H1323H3212H2204H376H559H3426H8615H376H3915H3205H112113would you be willing to wait for them to grow up? Would you restrain yourselves from remarrying? No, my daughters, [my life] is much too bitter for you [to share], because the LORD's hand has turned against me."H7663H3860H1431H5702H3860H376H1323H4843H3966H3027H3068H331814Again they wept loudly, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.H5375H6963H1058H6204H5401H2545H7327H169215Naomi said, "Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her god. Follow your sister-in-law."H559H2994H7725H5971H430H7725H310H299416But Ruth replied: Do not persuade me to leave you or go back and not follow you. For wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you live, I will live; your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.H7327H559H6293H5800H7725H310H3212H3212H3885H3885H5971H5971H430H43017Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD do this to me, and even more, if anything but death separates you and me.H4191H4191H6912H3068H6213H3254H4194H650418When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped trying to persuade her.H7200H553H3212H2308H169619The two of them traveled until they came to Bethlehem. When they entered Bethlehem, the whole town was excited about their arrival and [the local women] exclaimed, "Can this be Naomi?"H8147H3212H935H1035H935H1035H5892H1949H559H528120"Don't call me Naomi. Call me Mara," she answered, "for the Almighty has made me very bitter.H559H7121H5281H7121H4755H7706H3966H484321I left full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the LORD has pronounced [judgment] on me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?"H1980H4392H3068H7725H7387H7121H5281H3068H6030H7706H748922So Naomi came back from the land of Moab with her daughter-in-law Ruth the Moabitess. They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.H5281H7725H7327H4125H3618H7725H7704H4124H935H1035H8462H8184H7105