3 Some time later, Elim-elek died and Naomi was left all alone with her 2 sons.
4 Those 2 young men married women from Mo-ab. One woman's name was Or-pah and the other woman's name was Ruth.
5 but then both Mah-lon and Kill-e-on died. And so Naomi was all alone. She had lost her husband and now she had lost her 2 sons. Elim-elek, Mah-lon and Kill-e-on all died|src="IMG_9322 3 graves.tif" size="col" copy="Brenda Thompson Canteen Creek" ref="1:5"
6 Later on, someone told Naomi that the Lord had helped his people in Israel and had given them food. So Naomi and her daughters-in-law got ready to leave Mo-ab and go back to Bethlehem.
7 Naomi, Or-pah and Ruth left their home in Mo-ab, and they started to walk along the track that went back to the land of Judah in Israel.
8 Then Naomi stopped and said to her daughters-in-law, “I want you to go back and stay with your mothers. I will pray and ask the Lord to be kind to you, just like you have been kind to me and my 2 sons.
9 I will ask the Lord to give each of you a new husband to look after you and to keep you safe.” Then Naomi kissed them and said goodbye to them, and they all started to cry out loud.
10 Both the young women said, “No, we don't want to do that, we want to go with you and live with you and your people.”
11 But Naomi said, “Why do you want to come with me? I cannot have more sons so that you can marry them. No, go home my daughters.
12 Go back to your families. I might get married today and have 2 more sons straight away, but I am too old for that to happen. And even if I can have 2 more sons straight away,
13 you cannot wait for them to grow up. No, you cannot wait that long to have a husband. I think the Lord has turned against me. I am too sad and angry, and I don't want you to feel like that too!”
14 They all cried out loud again. Then Or-pah kissed her mother-in-law to say goodbye and she started to walk back to her family in Mo-ab. But Ruth grabbed Naomi and held onto her.
15 Naomi said to her, “Ruth, Or-pah is going back to her people and to her gods. I want you to go with her.” Or-pah went back to her family but Ruth promised to stay with Naomi|src="lll4-02 Ruth follows Naomi reversed.tif" size="col" copy="Global Recordings Network (Australia)" ref="1:15"
16 But Ruth said, “Don't force me to leave you, and don't stop me from following you. This is my strong promise to you. Wherever you go, I will go. Wherever you live, I will live there too. Your people will be my people and your God will be my God.
17 Where you die, I will die there too. Where you are buried, I want to be buried in the same place. If I leave you before I die, then I ask the Lord to really punish me.”
18 When Naomi saw that Ruth had made up her mind to go with her, she stopped talking.
19 Then they walked together until they got to Bethlehem and everyone in the town was very excited to see them. All the women said, “Is that really you Naomi?”
20 But Naomi said, “Do not call me Naomi. That name means that I am happy, but I am not happy. Call me Mara. That name means that I am not happy, I am like food that has gone sour. God All Powerful has made my life very hard.
21 I left this country a happy person, but now the Lord has made me come back here and I have nothing. The Lord All Powerful has sent me too much trouble, so do not call me Naomi!”
22 That is how Naomi and Ruth, her daughter-in-law from Mo-ab, came home to Bethlehem.