Naomi Returns Empty, Ruth Refuses to Leave

The chapter opens with a famine in the land during the days when the judges ruled. A man named Elimelech, his wife Naomi, and their two sons Mahlon and Chilion leave Bethlehem in Judah to sojourn in the country of Moab. They are Ephrathites from Bethlehem, but the land that once meant “house of bread” now offers none.

They settle in Moab, and there Elimelech dies. Naomi is left with her two sons, who take Moabite wives—Orpah and Ruth. For about ten years the family lives in Moab, and then both Mahlon and Chilion die. Naomi is left without her husband or her sons, only her two daughters-in-law remain.

When Naomi hears that the Lord has visited his people and given them bread, she decides to return to Judah. She sets out from Moab with Orpah and Ruth, and they walk the road toward the land of Judah. But on the way, Naomi stops and tells them to turn back.

She speaks plainly. She tells them to return each to her mother’s house, and she prays that the Lord will deal kindly with them as they have dealt with the dead and with her. She asks that they may find rest, each in the house of her husband. Then she kisses them, and they weep aloud.

They refuse. They say they will return with her to her people. But Naomi insists. She asks why they would go with her. She has no more sons in her womb to become their husbands. She is too old to marry again. Even if she had a husband tonight and bore sons, would they wait until those sons grew up? She tells them no, for the hand of the Lord has gone out against her, and it grieves her deeply for their sake.

They weep again. Then Orpah kisses her mother-in-law and leaves. But Ruth clings to her.

Naomi sees Orpah gone and tells Ruth to go back as well—back to her people and to her god. But Ruth answers with words that have no retreat. She begs Naomi not to urge her to leave. Where Naomi goes, Ruth will go. Where Naomi lodges, Ruth will lodge. Her people will be Ruth’s people, and her God Ruth’s God. Where Naomi dies, Ruth will die, and there she will be buried. She calls on the Lord to do to her and more also if anything but death parts them.

Naomi sees that Ruth is steadfastly minded to go with her, and she stops speaking to her about it. So the two of them walk on until they reach Bethlehem.

When they arrive, the whole city is stirred. The women ask, “Is this Naomi?” She answers them with a command: do not call her Naomi; call her Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with her. She went out full, and the Lord has brought her home empty. Why call her Naomi when the Lord has testified against her and the Almighty has afflicted her?

The chapter ends with a quiet fact: Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess her daughter-in-law with her. They came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest. The emptiness is not the final word, but it is the word that hangs over the gate.