Ruth 1:20

Complete Jewish Bible

"Don't call me Na‘omi [pleasant]," she answered them; "call me Marah [bitter], because Shaddai has made my life very bitter.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
“Don’t call me Naomi. Call me Mara,” she answered, “for the Almighty has made me very bitter.

Hebrew Names Version
She said to them, "Don't call me Na`omi, call me Mara; for Shaddai has dealt very bitterly with me.

King James Version
And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.

Lexham English Bible
And she said to them, "You should not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for Shaddai has caused me to be very bitter.

English Standard Version
She said to them, "Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.

New Century Version
Naomi answered the people, "Don't call me Naomi. Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very sad.

New English Translation
But she replied to them, "Don't call me ‘Naomi'! Call me ‘Mara' because the Sovereign One has treated me very harshly.

Amplified Bible
She said to them, "Do not call me Naomi (sweetness); call me Mara (bitter), for the Almighty has caused me great grief and bitterness.

New American Standard Bible
But she said to them, "Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.

Geneva Bible (1587)
And she answered them, Call me not Naomi, but call me Mara: for the Almightie hath giuen me much bitternes.

Legacy Standard Bible
She said to them, "Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.

Contemporary English Version
Then she told them, "Don't call me Naomi any longer! Call me Mara, because God has made my life bitter.

Darby Translation
And she said to them, Call me not Naomi—call me Mara; for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.

Easy-to-Read Version
But Naomi told the people, "Don't call me Naomi; call me Marah. Use this name because God All-Powerful has made my life very sad.

George Lamsa Translation
And she said to them, Do not call me Naomi, but call me Bitter of Soul; for the Almighty has dealt bitterly with me.

Good News Translation
"Don't call me Naomi," she answered; "call me Marah, because Almighty God has made my life bitter.

Literal Translation
And she said to them, Do not call me Naomi. Call me Bitterness, for the Almighty has dealt bitterly with me.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Neuerthelesse she sayde vnto them: call me not Naemi, but Mara: for the Allmightie hath made me very sory.

American Standard Version
And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara; for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.

Bible in Basic English
And she said to them, Do not let my name be Naomi, but Mara, for the Ruler of all has given me a bitter fate.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And she annswered them: Cal me not Naomi: but call me Mara, for the almightie hath made me verie bitter.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And she said unto them: 'Call me not Naomi, call me Marah; for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.

King James Version (1611)
And she said vnto them, Call me not Naomi; call mee Mara: for the Almightie hath dealt very bitterly with me.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And she said to them, Nay, do not call me Noemin; call me ‘Bitter,’ for the Mighty One has dealt very bitterly with me.

English Revised Version
And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.

Berean Standard Bible
"Do not call me Naomi," she replied. "Call me Mara, because the Almighty has dealt quite bitterly with me.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
To whiche sche seide, Clepe ye not me Noemy, that is, fair, but `clepe ye me Mara, that is, bittere; for Almyyti God hath fillid me greetli with bitternesse.

Young's Literal Translation
And she saith unto them, `Call me not Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly to me,

Update Bible Version
And she said to them, Don't call me Naomi, call me Mara; for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.

Webster's Bible Translation
And she said to them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.

World English Bible
She said to them, "Don't call me Naomi, call me Mara; for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.

New King James Version
But she said to them, "Do not call me Naomi; [fn] call me Mara, [fn] for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.

New Living Translation
"Don't call me Naomi," she responded. "Instead, call me Mara, for the Almighty has made life very bitter for me.

New Life Bible
She said to them, "Do not call me Naomi. Call me Mara. For the All-powerful has brought much trouble to me.

New Revised Standard
She said to them, "Call me no longer Naomi, call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt bitterly with me.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And she said unto them, Do not call me Naomi, - call me Mara, for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me:

Douay-Rheims Bible
But she said to them: Call me not Noemi (that is, beautiful,) but call me Mara (that is, bitter), for the Almighty hath quite filled me with bitterness.

Revised Standard Version
She said to them, "Do not call me Na'omi, call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.

THE MESSAGE
But she said, "Don't call me Naomi; call me Bitter. The Strong One has dealt me a bitter blow. I left here full of life, and God has brought me back with nothing but the clothes on my back. Why would you call me Naomi? God certainly doesn't. The Strong One ruined me."

New American Standard Bible (1995)
She said to them, "Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.

Contextual Overview

¹⁹ So the two of them went on until they came to Beit-Lechem. When they arrived in Beit-Lechem, the whole city was stirred with excitement over them. The women asked, "Can this be Na‘omi?" ²⁰ "Don't call me Na‘omi [pleasant]," she answered them; "call me Marah [bitter], because Shaddai has made my life very bitter. ²¹ I went out full, and Adonai has brought me back empty. Why call me Na‘omi? Adonai has testified against me, Shaddai has afflicted me." ²² This is how Na‘omi returned, with Rut the woman from Mo'av, her daughter-in-law, accompanying her from the plain of Mo'av. They arrived in Beit-Lechem at the beginning of the barley harvest.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Naomi: that is, Pleasant

Mara: that is, Bitter

the Almighty: Genesis 17:1, Genesis 43:14, Job 5:17, Job 11:7, Revelation 1:8, Revelation 21:22

dealt: Job 6:4, Job 19:6, Psalms 73:14, Psalms 88:15, Isaiah 38:13, Lamentations 3:1-20, Hebrews 12:11

Reciprocal: Exodus 1:14 - their lives Exodus 15:23 - Marah Ruth 1:2 - Naomi 1 Samuel 1:10 - in bitterness of soul Job 13:26 - writest Job 23:16 - Almighty Job 27:2 - vexed my soul Psalms 107:39 - they are Isaiah 22:4 - Look Isaiah 47:9 - these two Lamentations 3:15 - filled Lamentations 4:8 - they Micah 1:12 - Maroth Revelation 8:11 - Wormwood

Cross-References

Genesis 1:7
God made the dome and divided the water under the dome from the water above the dome; that is how it was,

Genesis 1:14
(A: ii) God said, "Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to divide the day from the night; let them be for signs, seasons, days and years;

Genesis 1:22
Then God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful, multiply and fill the water of the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth."

Genesis 1:24
(A: iii) God said, "Let the earth bring forth each kind of living creature — each kind of livestock, crawling animal and wild beast"; and that is how it was.

Genesis 1:25
God made each kind of wild beast, each kind of livestock and every kind of animal that crawls along the ground; and God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:30
And to every wild animal, bird in the air and creature crawling on the earth, in which there is a living soul, I am giving as food every kind of green plant." And that is how it was.

Genesis 2:19
So from the ground Adonai , God, formed every wild animal and every bird that flies in the air, and he brought them to the person to see what he would call them. Whatever the person would call each living creature, that was to be its name.

Genesis 8:17
Bring out with you every living thing you have with you — birds, livestock and every animal that creeps on the earth — so that they can swarm on the earth, be fruitful and multiply on the earth."

1 Kings 4:33
King Shlomo was king over all Isra'el, and these were his high officials: ‘Azaryah the son of Tzadok, the cohen; Elichoref and Achiyah the sons of Shisha, secretaries; Y'hoshafat the son of Achilud, secretary of state; B'nayah the son of Y'hoyada, commander of the army; Tzadok and Evyatar, cohanim; ‘Azaryah the son of Natan, chief administrator; Zavud the son of Natan, the king's trusted counselor; Achishar, in charge of the palace; Adoniram the son of ‘Avda, in charge of forced labor. Shlomo had twelve officers over all Isra'el who were in charge of providing food and supplies for the king and his household; each one was in charge of provisions for one month out of the year. They were: the son of Hur, in the hills of Efrayim; the son of Deker, in Makatz, Sha‘albim, Beit-Shemesh and Eilon-Beit-Hanan; the son of Hesed, in Arubot; he also had charge of Sokhoh and all the territory of Hefer; the son of Avinadav, in all the area of Dor; he had Tafat the daughter of Shlomo as his wife; Ba‘ana the son of Achilud, in Ta‘anakh, Megiddo, and all Beit-Sh'an by Tzartan below Yizre‘el, from Beit-Sh'an to Avel-M'cholah, as far as beyond Yokme‘am; the son of Gever, in Ramot-Gil‘ad; he was in charge of the villages of Ya'ir the son of M'nasheh in Gil‘ad and in charge of the region of Argov in Bashan, sixty large cities with walls and bronze bars; Achinadav the son of ‘Iddo, in Machanayim; Achima‘atz, in Naftali; he also took Basmat the daughter of Shlomo as his wife; Ba‘ana the son of Hushai, in Asher and in Alot; Y'hoshafat the son of Paruach, in Yissakhar; Shim‘i the son of Ela, in Binyamin; and Gever the son of Uri, in the land of Gil‘ad, the country of Sichon king of the Emori and ‘Og king of Bashan. Over all these, there was one administrator in the land. Y'hudah and Isra'el were as numerous as sand grains on the seashore; they ate, drank and enjoyed themselves.

Psalms 148:10
wild animals and all livestock, creeping reptiles, flying birds,

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And she said, call me not Naomi, call me Mara,.... The one signifying "prosperity", according to Josephus m, and the other "grief"; but he is not always correct in his interpretation of Hebrew words, or to be depended on; by this indeed her different states are well enough expressed, and he rightly observes, that she might more justly be called the one than the other; but the words signify, the one "sweet" and pleasant, and the other "bitter", see Exodus 15:23, and the reason she gives confirms it:

for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me; had wrote bitter things against her, brought bitter afflictions on her, which were very disagreeable to the flesh, as the loss of her husband, her children, and her substance; see Lamentations 3:15.

m Antiqu. l. 5. c. 9. sect. 2.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See the margin. Similar allusions to the meaning of names are seen in Genesis 27:36; Jeremiah 20:3.

The Almighty - שׁדי shadday (see the Genesis 17:1 note). The name “Almighty” is almost unique to the Pentateuch and to the Book of Job. It occurs twice in the Psalms, and four times in the Prophets.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Ruth 1:20. Call me not Naomi — That is, beautiful or pleasant.

Call me Mara — That is, bitter; one whose life is grievous to her.

The Almighty — שדי Shaddai, He who is self-sufficient, has taken away the props and supports of my life.