Ruth 1:1-14

In the days when the judges governed [Israel], there was a famine in the land [of Canaan]. And a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to live temporarily in the country of Moab with his wife and his two sons. The man’s name was Elimelech and his wife’s name was Naomi and his two sons were named Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went to the country of Moab and stayed there. Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left [a widow] with her two sons. They took wives from the Moabite women; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other was Ruth. They lived there about ten years; and then both Mahlon and Chilion also died, so the woman [Naomi] was left without her two sons and her husband. Then she set out with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in Moab how the LORD had taken care of His people [of Judah] in giving them food. So she left the place where she was living, her two daughters-in-law with her, and they started on the way back to the land of Judah. But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you return to your mother’s house. May the LORD show kindness to you as you have shown kindness to the dead and to me. May the LORD grant that you find rest, each one in the home of her husband.” Then she kissed them [goodbye], and they wept aloud. And they said to her, “No, we will go with you to your people [in Judah].” But Naomi said, “Go back, my daughters, why should you go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb that may become your husbands? Go back, my daughters, go, for I am too old to have a husband. If I said I have hope, and if I actually had a husband tonight and even gave birth to sons, would you wait until they were grown? Would you go without marrying? No, my daughters; for it is much more difficult for me than for you, because the LORD’S hand has gone against me.” Then they wept aloud again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law [goodbye], but Ruth clung to her.

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