| 1. Now it came to pass in the days when the judges judged, that there was a famine in the land, and a man went from Bethlehem of Judah to sojourn in the fields of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. |
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א. |
| 2. And the man's name was Elimelech, and his wife's name was Naomi, and his two sons' names were Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites, from Bethlehem of Judah, and they came to the fields of Moab and remained there. |
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ב. |
| 3. Now Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. |
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ג. |
| 4. And they married Moabite women, one named Orpah, and the other named Ruth, and they dwelt there for about ten years. |
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ד. |
| 5. And both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and the woman was left [bereft] of her two children and of her husband. |
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ה. |
| 6. Now she arose with her daughters-in-law and returned from the fields of Moab, for she had heard in the field of Moab that the Lord had remembered His people to give them bread. |
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ו. |
| 7. Then she went forth from the place where she had been, and her two daughters-in-law with her, and they went on the road to return to the land of Judah. |
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ז. |
| 8. And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Go, return each woman to her mother's house. May the Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the deceased and with me. |
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ח. |
| 9. May the Lord grant you that you find rest, each woman in her husband's house," and she kissed them, and they raised their voices and wept. |
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ט. |
| 10. And they said to her, "[No,] but we will return with you to your people." |
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י. |
| 11. And Naomi said, "Return, my daughters; why should you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb, that they should be your husbands? |
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יא. |
| 12. Return, my daughters, go, for I have become too old to marry, that I should say that I have hope. Even if I had a husband tonight, and even if I had borne sons, |
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יב. |
| 13. Would you wait for them until they grew up? Would you shut yourselves off for them and not marry? No, my daughters, for it is much more bitter for me than for you, for the hand of the Lord has gone forth against me." |
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יג. |
| 14. And they raised their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth cleaved to her. |
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יד. |
| 15. And she said, "Lo, your sister-in-law has returned to her people and to her god; return after your sister- in-law." |
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טו. |
| 16. And Ruth said, "Do not entreat me to leave you, to return from following you, for wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people and your God my God. |
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טז. |
| 17. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. So may the Lord do to me and so may He continue, if anything but death separate me and you." |
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יז. |
| 18. And she saw that she was determined to go with her; so she stopped speaking to her. |
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יח. |
| 19. And they both went on until they arrived to Bethlehem. And it came to pass when they arrived to Bethlehem, that the entire city was astir on their account, and they said, "Is this Naomi?" |
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יט. |
| 20. And she said to them, "Do not call me Naomi; call me Marah, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. |
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כ. |
| 21. I went away full, and the Lord has brought me back empty. Why [then] should you call me Naomi, seeing that the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has dealt harshly with me?" |
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כא. |
| 22. So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in- law, with her, who returned from the fields of Moab-and they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest. |
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כב. |
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