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20 Then she told them, “Don't call me Naomi any longer! Call me Mara,[a] because God has made my life bitter. 21 I had everything when I left, but the Lord has brought me back with nothing. How can you still call me Naomi, when God has turned against me and made my life so hard?”

22 The barley harvest was just beginning when Naomi and Ruth, her Moabite daughter-in-law, arrived in Bethlehem.

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Footnotes

  1. 1.20 Mara: In Hebrew “Naomi” means “pleasant,” and “Mara” means “bitter.”

20 “Don’t call me Naomi,[a]” she told them. “Call me Mara,[b] because the Almighty[c](A) has made my life very bitter.(B) 21 I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty.(C) Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted[d] me;(D) the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”

22 So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite,(E) her daughter-in-law,(F) arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest(G) was beginning.(H)

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Footnotes

  1. Ruth 1:20 Naomi means pleasant.
  2. Ruth 1:20 Mara means bitter.
  3. Ruth 1:20 Hebrew Shaddai; also in verse 21
  4. Ruth 1:21 Or has testified against