ኑኃሚንና ሩት
1መሳፍንት1፥1 በትውፊት ፈራጆች ተብሏል። በሚገዙበት ዘመን፣ በምድሪቱ ላይ ራብ ሆነ፤ አንድ ሰው በይሁዳ ከምትገኘው ከቤተ ልሔም ሚስቱንና ሁለቱን ወንዶች ልጆቹን ይዞ፣ ለተወሰነ ጊዜ ለመኖር ወደ ሞዓብ አገር ሄደ። 2የሰውየው ስም አቤሜሌክ፣ የሚስቱ ኑኃሚን፣ የሁለቱም ወንዶች ልጆቹ ስም መሐሎንና ኬሌዎን ነበር። እነርሱም የይሁዳ ቤተ ልሔም ኤፍራታውያን ሲሆኑ፣ ወደ ሞዓብ አገር ሄደው በዚያ ኖሩ።
3የኑኃሚን ባል አቤሜሌክ ሞተ፤ ኑኃሚን ከሁለት ልጆቿ ጋር ብቻዋን ቀረች። 4ልጆቿም ዖርፋና ሩት የተባሉ የሞዓብ ሴቶችን አገቡ። በዚያም ዐሥር ዓመት ያህል ከኖሩ በኋላ፣ 5መሐሎንና ኬሌዎን ሁለቱም ሞቱ፤ ኑኃሚንም ሁለት ልጆቿንና ባሏን ዐጥታ ብቻዋን ቀረች።
6እርሷም በሞዓብ ሳለች እግዚአብሔር ሕዝቡን እንደ ጐበኘና እህል እንደ ሰጣቸው በሰማች ጊዜ፣ ሁለቱን ምራቶቿን ይዛ ወደ አገሯ ለመመለስ ከዚያ ተነሣች። 7የኖረችበትን ስፍራ ትታ ከሁለቱ ምራቶቿ ጋር ወደ ይሁዳ ምድር የሚመልሳቸውን መንገድ ይዘው ጕዟቸውን ቀጠሉ።
8ከዚያም ኑኃሚን ሁለቱን ምራቶቿን እንዲህ አለቻቸው፤ “እያንዳንዳችሁ ወደ እናቶቻችሁ ቤት ተመለሱ፤ ለሞቱ ባሎቻችሁና ለእኔ በጎ ነገር እንዳደረጋችሁ፣ ለእናንተም እግዚአብሔር እንደዚሁ ያድርግላችሁ፤ 9እያንዳንዳችሁ በምታገቡት ባል ቤት እግዚአብሔር ያሳርፋችሁ።” ከዚያም ሳመቻቸው፤ እነርሱም ድምፃቸውን ከፍ አድርገው አለቀሱ፤ 10ቀጥለውም፣ “አይሆንም! ከአንቺ ጋር ተመልሰን ወደ ወገኖችሽ እንሄዳለን” አሏት።
11ኑኃሚን ግን እንዲህ አለቻቸው፤ “ልጆቼ ሆይ፤ ወደየቤታችሁ ተመለሱ፤ ከእኔ ጋር ለምን ትሄዳላችሁ? ባል የሚሆኗችሁ ሌሎች ልጆች ከእንግዲህ የምወልድ ይመስላችኋልን? 12ወደየቤታችሁ ተመለሱ፣ ልጆቼ፤ ሌላ ባል እንዳላገባ እጅግ አርጅቻለሁ፤ አሁንም ተስፋ አለኝ ብል፣ ዛሬ ማታ አግብቼ ከዚያም ልጆች ብወልድ፣ 13እስኪያድጉ ድረስ ትጠብቃላችሁን? እነርሱን በመጠበቅ እስከዚያ ሳታገቡ ትቈያላችሁን? ልጆቼ ሆይ፤ እንዲህ አይሆንም፤ ሁኔታው ከእናንተ ይልቅ ለእኔ እጅግ መራራ ነው፤ የእግዚአብሔር እጅ በእኔ ላይ ተነሥቷልና።”
14እነርሱም ድምፃቸውን ከፍ አድርገው እንደ ገና አለቀሱ፤ ከዚያም ዖርፋ ዐማቷን ስማ ተሰናበተቻት፤ ሩት ግን ልትለያት ስላልፈለገች ተጠመጠመችባት።
15ኑኃሚን መልሳ፣ “እነሆ የባልሽ ወንድም ሚስት ወደ ወገኖቿና ወደ አማልክቷ ተመልሳለች፤ አብረሻት ተመለሽ” አለቻት።
16ሩት ግን እንዲህ አለች፤ “ተለይቼሽ እንድቀር ወይም እንድመለስ አትለማመጭኝ፤ ወደምትሄጂበት እሄዳለሁ፤ በምትኖሪበትም እኖራለሁ፤ ሕዝብሽ ሕዝቤ፣ አምላክሽ አምላኬ ይሆናል። 17በምትሞቺበት እሞታለሁ፤ እዚያው እቀበራለሁ። ከእንግዲህ ሞት ከሚለየን በቀር ብለይሽ እግዚአብሔር ይፍረድብኝ፤ ከዚህም የከፋ ያድርግብኝ።” 18ሩት አብራት ለመሄድ መቍረጧን በተረዳች ጊዜ፣ ኑኃሚን መጐትጐቷን ተወች።
19ከዚያም ሁለቱ ሴቶች እስከ ቤተ ልሔም ድረስ ተጓዙ፤ ቤተ ልሔም እንደ ደረሱም፣ በእነርሱ ምክንያት ከተማው በሙሉ ተተረማመሰ፤ ሴቶቹም፣ “ይህች ኑኃሚን ናትን?” በማለት ተገረሙ።
20እርሷም እንዲህ አለች፤ “ሁሉን የሚችል አምላክ1፥20 በዚህና በቍጥር 21 ላይ ዕብራይስጡ፣ ሻዳይ ይላል። ሕይወቴን እጅግ መራራ አድርጎታልና ማራ1፥20 ማራ ማለት መራራ ማለት ነው። በሉኝ እንጂ፣ ኑኃሚን1፥20 በዚህና በቍጥር 21 ላይ፣ ኑኃሚን ማለት ደስተኛ ማለት ነው። ብላችሁ አትጥሩኝ። 21በሙላት ወጣሁ፤ ነገር ግን እግዚአብሔር ባዶዬን መለሰኝ፤ እግዚአብሔር አስጨንቆኝ1፥21 ወይም እግዚአብሔር ፈትኖኝ፣ ሁሉን የሚችል አምላክ መከራ አምጥቶብኝ ሳለ እንዴት ኑኃሚን ብላችሁ ትጠሩኛላችሁ?” አለቻቸው።
22ስለዚህ ኑኃሚን ከምራቷ ከሞዓባዊቷ ሩት ጋር በመሆን ከሞዓብ ተመለሰች፤ ቤተ ልሔም የደረሱትም የገብስ አዝመራ በሚሰበሰብበት ወቅት መጀመሪያ ላይ ነበር።
Naomi loses her husband and sons
1In the days when the judges ruled,1:1 Traditionally judged there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. 2The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.
3Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, 5both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.
Naomi and Ruth return to Bethlehem
6When Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. 7With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.
8Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, ‘Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. 9May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.’
Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud 10and said to her, ‘We will go back with you to your people.’
11But Naomi said, ‘Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? 12Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me – even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons – 13would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!’
14At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.
15‘Look,’ said Naomi, ‘your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.’
16But Ruth replied, ‘Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.’ 18When Naomi realised that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.
19So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, ‘Can this be Naomi?’
20‘Don’t call me Naomi,1:20 Naomi means pleasant.’ she told them. ‘Call me Mara,1:20 Mara means bitter. because the Almighty1:20 Hebrew Shaddai; also in verse 21 has made my life very bitter. 21I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted1:21 Or has testified against me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.’
22So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.
