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Ruth 1:1-22

In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a
certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to live in the country of Moab, he
and his wife and two sons.  The name of the man was Elimelech and the name
of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion;
they were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah.  They went into the country
of Moab and remained there.  But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died,
and she was left with her two sons.  These took Moabite wives; the name of
the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth.  When they had lived
there about ten years,  both Mahlon and Chilion also died, so that the
woman was left without her two sons and her husband.

Then she started to return with her daughters-in-law from the country of
Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the LORD had
considered his people and given them food.  So she set out from the place
where she had been living, she and her two daughters-in- law, and they
went on their way to go back to the land of Judah.  But Naomi said to her
two daughters-in-law, "Go back each of you to your mother's house.  May
the LORD deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with
me.  The LORD grant that you may find security, each of you in the house
of your husband."  Then she kissed them, and they wept aloud.  They said
to her, "No, we will return with you to your people."  But Naomi said,
"Turn back, my daughters, why will you go with me?  Do I still have sons
in my womb that they may become your husbands?  Turn back, my daughters,
go your way, for I am too old to have a husband.  Even if I thought there
was hope for me, even if I should have a husband tonight and bear sons,
would you then wait until they were grown?  Would you then refrain from
marrying?  No, my daughters, it has been far more bitter for me than for
you, because the hand of the LORD has turned against me."  Then they wept
aloud again. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.

So she said, "See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to
her gods; return after your sister-in-law."  But Ruth said,
        "Do not press me to leave you
        or to turn back from following you!
        Where you go, I will go;
        where you lodge, I will lodge,
        your people shall be my people,
        and your God my God.
        Where you die, I will die —
        there will I be buried.
        May the LORD do thus and so to me,
        and more as well,
        if even death parts me from you!"

When Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more to
her.

So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem.  When they came
to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them; and the women
said, "Is this Naomi?"  She said to them,
        "Call me no longer Naomi,
        call me Mara,
        for the Almighty has dealt bitterly with me.
        I went away full,
        but the LORD has brought me back empty;
        why call me Naomi
        when the LORD has dealt harshly with me,
        and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?"

So Naomi returned together with Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, who
came back with her from the country of Moab.  They came to Bethlehem at
the beginning of the barley harvest.