HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 610
RU T H 1
page 240
accompany Naomi back to Israel, which was, for Ruth, a foreign and potentially hostile
land. Yet Ruth remained with Naomi, supported her, cared for her, loved her.
The next time your life caves in, remember Ruth’s faithfulness. Remember her commitment to family and to God. Self was last. God and others came first. (And just wait
till you see what God had in store for her!)
Key verses in Ruth
1:16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t
ask me to leave you and turn
back. Wherever you go, I will go;
wherever you live, I will live. Your
people will be my people, and
your God will be my God.”
2:12 “May the Lord, the God of
Israel, under whose wings you have
come to take refuge, reward you
fully for what you have done.”
4:16-17 Naomi took the baby and
cuddled him to her breast. And
Elimelech Moves His Family to Moab
In the days when the judges ruled in Israel,
a severe famine came upon the land. So a
man from Bethlehem in Judah left his home
and went to live in the country of Moab, taking his wife and two sons with him. 2 The man’s
name was Elimelech, and his wife was Naomi.
Their two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They
were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in the land
of Judah. And when they reached Moab, they
settled there.
3 Then Elimelech died, and Naomi was left
with her two sons. 4 The two sons married
Moabite women. One married a woman named
Orpah, and the other a woman named Ruth. But
about ten years later, 5 both Mahlon and Kilion
died. This left Naomi alone, without her two
sons or her husband.
1
Naomi and Ruth Return
6 Then Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had
blessed his people in Judah by giving them good
crops again. So Naomi and her daughters-in-law
got ready to leave Moab to return to her homeland. 7 With her two daughters-in-law she set out
from the place where she had been living, and
they took the road that would lead them back
to Judah.
8 But on the way, Naomi said to her two
daughters-in-law, “Go back to your mothers’
homes. And may the Lord reward you for your
kindness to your husbands and to me. 9 May
the Lord bless you with the security of another
marriage.” Then she kissed them good-bye, and
they all broke down and wept.
10 “No,” they said. “We want to go with you
to your people.”
11 But Naomi replied, “Why should you go
on with me? Can I still give birth to other sons
who could grow up to be your husbands? 12 No,
my daughters, return to your parents’ homes,
she cared for him as if he were her
own. The neighbor women said,
“Now at last Naomi has a son
again!” And they named him Obed.
He became the father of Jesse and
the grandfather of David.
for I am too old to marry again. And even if
it were possible, and I were to get married tonight and bear sons, then what? 13 Would you
wait for them to grow up and refuse to marry
someone else? No, of course not, my daughters! Things are far more bitter for me than for
you, because the Lord himself has raised his
fist against me.”
14 And again they wept together, and Orpah
kissed her mother-in-law good-bye. But Ruth
clung tightly to Naomi. 15 “Look,” Naomi said
to her, “your sister-in-law has gone back to
her people and to her gods. You should do the
same.”
16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t ask me to leave you
and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my
people, and your God will be my God. 17 Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me severely if I allow
anything but death to separate us!” 18 When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with
her, she said nothing more.
19 So the two of them continued on their journey. When they came to Bethlehem, the entire
town was excited by their arrival. “Is it really
Naomi?” the women asked.
20 “Don’t call me Naomi,” she responded.
“Instead, call me Mara,* for the Almighty has
made life very bitter for me. 21 I went away full,
but the Lord has brought me home empty. Why
call me Naomi when the Lord has caused me to
suffer* and the Almighty has sent such tragedy
upon me?”
22 So Naomi returned from Moab, accompanied by her daughter-in-law Ruth, the young
Moabite woman. They arrived in Bethlehem
in late spring, at the beginning of the barley
harvest.
1:20 Naomi means “pleasant”; Mara means “bitter.” 1:21 Or
has testified against me.