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Ruth 1:20-22
The Voice
Ruth 1:20-22
The Voice
20 Naomi: Do not call me Naomi ever again, for I am no longer pleasant.
Call me Mara instead, for I am filled with bitterness
because the Highest One[a] has treated me bitterly.
There is a Hebrew wordplay here from Naomi, “pleasant,” to Mara, “bitterness.” Even Orpah (“neck”) turns her back on Naomi.
21 I left this place full, in spite of the famine,
but the Eternal has brought me back empty from a plentiful land.
Why would you call me “Pleasant”
when the Eternal has testified against me,
and the Highest One has brought disaster upon me?
Naomi’s story is similar to the story of Job. God tests them, as Job and Naomi have full lives. Then they go from emptiness to vindication, and finally to redemption.
22 This was how Naomi came into Bethlehem with her daughter-in-law, Ruth, from Moab. It was at the beginning of the barley harvest when they returned to the land.
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- 1:20ff Hebrew, Shaddai
Ruth 1:20-22
New International Version
Ruth 1:20-22
New International Version
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)
The Voice (VOICE)
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