14. The women cried together out loud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law Naomi good-bye, but Ruth held on to her tightly.
15. Naomi said to Ruth, “Look, your sister-in-law is going back to her own people and her own gods. Go back with her.”
16. But Ruth said, “Don’t beg me to leave you or to stop following you. Where you go, I will go. Where you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.
17. And where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. I ask the Lord to punish me terribly if I do not keep this promise: Not even death will separate us.”
18. When Naomi saw that Ruth had firmly made up her mind to go with her, she stopped arguing with her.
19. So Naomi and Ruth went on until they came to the town of Bethlehem. When they entered Bethlehem, all the people became very excited. The women of the town said, “Is this really Naomi?”
20. Naomi answered the people, “Don’t call me Naomi. Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very sad.