Ruth 1 Free Bible Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 There was a famine during the time when the judges ruled Israel, so a man left Bethlehem in Judah and went to live in exile in the country of Moab, along with his wife and two sons.
1 In the days when the judges judged, there was a famine in the land. A certain man of Bethlehem Judah went to live in the country of Moab with his wife and his two sons.
2 His name was Elimelech, and his wife's name Naomi. His sons were called Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went to the country of Moab and lived there.
2 The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi. The names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem Judah. They came into the country of Moab and lived there.
3 However, Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died, and she was left with her two sons.
3 Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left with her two sons.
4 The sons married Moabite women. One was called Orpah, the other was called Ruth. After about ten years,
4 They took for themselves wives of the women of Moab. The name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other was Ruth. They lived there about ten years.
5 both Mahlon and Chilion died. Naomi was left alone, without her two sons or her husband.
5 Mahlon and Chilion both died, and the woman was bereaved of her two children and of her husband.
6 So she and her daughters-in-law prepared to leave the country of Moab and return home because she had heard that the Lord had blessed his people there with food.
6 Then she arose with her daughters-in-law, that she might return from the country of Moab; for she had heard in the country of Moab how Yahweh had visited his people in giving them bread.
7 She left the place where she had been living and with her two daughters-in-law set out on the road back to the land of Judah.
7 She went out of the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her. They went on the way to return to the land of Judah.
8 However, as they left, Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Each of you, go back to your mother's homes, and may the Lord be as kind to you as you have been to me, and to those who have died.
8 Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each of you to her mother’s house. May Yahweh deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me.
9 May the Lord give you a good home with another husband.” She kissed them, and they all started to cry loudly.
9 May Yahweh grant you that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband.” Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices, and wept.
10 “No! We want to go back with you to your people,” they replied.
10 They said to her, “No, but we will return with you to your people.”
11 “Why do you want to go back with me?” Naomi asked. “I'm not able to have any more sons for you to marry.
11 Naomi said, “Go back, my daughters. Why do you want to go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands?
12 Go back home, my daughters, because I'm too old to marry again. Even if I were to sleep with a new husband tonight and had sons,
12 Go back, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say, ‘I have hope,’ if I should even have a husband tonight, and should also bear sons,
13 would you wait for them to grow up? Would you decide you weren't going to marry anyone else? No. The whole situation is more bitter for me than it is for you, for the Lord has turned against me!”
13 would you then wait until they were grown? Would you then refrain from having husbands? No, my daughters, for it grieves me seriously for your sakes, for Yahweh’s hand has gone out against me.”
14 They started crying loudly again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye. But Ruth held on tightly to Naomi.
14 They lifted up their voices and wept again; then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth stayed with her.
15 “Look, your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back home with her,” said Naomi.
15 She said, “Behold, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her god. Follow your sister-in-law.”
16 But Ruth replied, “Please don't keep on telling me to leave you and go back. Where you go, I will go. Where you live, I will live. Your people will be my people. Your God will be my God.
16 Ruth said, “Don’t urge me to leave you, and to return from following you, for where you go, I will go; and where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people, and your God my God.
17 Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me harshly if I let anything but death separate us!”
17 Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May Yahweh do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts you and me.”
18 When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped telling Ruth to go home.
18 When Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.
19 So the two of them walked on until they reached Bethlehem. When they arrived there, the whole town got excited. “Is this Naomi?” the women asked.
19 So they both went until they came to Bethlehem. When they had come to Bethlehem, all the city was excited about them, and they asked, “Is this Naomi?”
20 She said to them, “Don't call me Naomi! Call me Mara, for the Almighty has treated me very bitterly.
20 She said to them, “Don’t call me Naomi. Call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.
21 I left here full, but the Lord has brought me home empty. Why call me Naomi when the Lord has condemned me, when the Almighty has brought disaster on me?”
21 I went out full, and Yahweh has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since Yahweh has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?”
22 This is the way that Naomi returned from Moab with Ruth, the Moabite, her daughter-in-law. They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.
22 So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her, who returned out of the country of Moab. They came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest.
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Chilion
Son of Elimelech and Naomi who married a Moabite woman and died in Moab, whose property Boaz bought; Orpah is his wife by implication, since Ruth was Mahlon's widow.
Cited in the guide: Ruth 1:2; Ruth 1:5; Ruth 4:9
Elimelech
Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah who took his wife Naomi and sons Mahlon and Chilion to Moab in a famine and died there, whose clan-relative Boaz later bought back his land.
Cited in the guide: Ruth 1:2; Ruth 1:3; Ruth 2:1
Mahlon
Son of Elimelech and Naomi who died in Moab and whose widow Ruth Boaz acquired as his wife to raise up Mahlon's name on his inheritance.
Cited in the guide: Ruth 1:2; Ruth 1:5; Ruth 4:9
Naomi
Wife of Elimelech who lost her husband and both sons in Moab, returned to Bethlehem asking to be called Mara, and cared for Ruth's son Obed, of whom the women said a son had been…
Cited in the guide: Ruth 1:2; Ruth 1:20; Ruth 3:1
Orpah
Moabite wife of one of Naomi's sons who set out with Naomi and Ruth but kissed her mother-in-law goodbye and returned to her own people and gods.
Cited in the guide: Ruth 1:4; Ruth 1:14
Ruth
The loyal Moabite widow whose devotion made her great-grandmother of King David.
Cited in the guide: Ruth 1-4; Matthew 1:5
Places
Bethlehem
Bethlehem was the home of Ruth and Boaz and the birthplace of David. Micah named it as the Messiah's birthplace — fulfilled in Jesus' nativity.
Cited in the guide: Micah 5:2; Ruth 1:19; Luke 2:4-7
Cross references (22)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Genesis 12:10; Genesis 26:1; Ezekiel 14:13; Deuteronomy 28:23–24; 2 Kings 8:1–2
- 2 Genesis 35:19; Micah 5:2; 1 Samuel 17:21; 1 Samuel 1:1
- 3 Psalm 34:19; Hebrews 12:6; 2 Kings 4:1; Hebrews 12:10–11
- 4 Matthew 1:5; Deuteronomy 7:3; Deuteronomy 23:3; 1 Kings 11:1–2
- 5 Deuteronomy 32:39; Psalm 89:30–32; Isaiah 49:21; Matthew 22:25–27; Jeremiah 2:19
- 6 Psalm 132:15; Psalm 111:5; Exodus 4:31; Luke 1:68; Matthew 6:11
- 7 2 Kings 8:3; Ruth 1:14; Exodus 18:27; Ruth 1:10
- 8 Ruth 2:20; Ruth 1:5; Colossians 3:18; Colossians 3:24; Ephesians 6:2–3
- 9 Ruth 3:1; Genesis 29:11; Acts 20:37; Genesis 27:27; Genesis 45:15
- 10 Zechariah 8:23; Psalm 119:63; Psalm 16:3
- 11 Deuteronomy 25:5; Genesis 38:11
- 12 Genesis 17:17; 1 Timothy 5:9
- 13 Job 19:21; Psalm 32:4; Judges 2:15; Psalm 38:2; Psalm 39:9–10
- 14 Proverbs 18:24; Matthew 16:24; Matthew 10:37; Matthew 19:22; Hebrews 10:39
- 15 Zephaniah 1:6; Judges 11:24; Psalm 125:5; 2 Kings 2:2; Joshua 24:15
- 16 2 Samuel 15:21; Ruth 2:11–12; 2 Kings 2:2–6; Psalm 45:10; Matthew 8:19
- 17 1 Samuel 3:17; 2 Samuel 19:13; 2 Kings 6:31; 1 Kings 2:23; 1 Kings 20:10
- 18 Acts 21:14; Acts 2:42; Ephesians 6:10
- 19 Matthew 21:10; Lamentations 2:15; Isaiah 23:7
- 20 Job 6:4; Hebrews 12:11; Psalm 88:15; Isaiah 38:13; Job 19:6
- 21 1 Samuel 2:7–8; Job 1:21; Job 16:8; Job 13:26; Job 10:17
- 22 Ruth 2:23; 2 Samuel 21:9; Exodus 9:31–32
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences