Ruth 1:20 (DBY)

Passage

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

Nearby Context

Ruth 1:18 And when she saw that she was stedfastly minded to go with her, she left off speaking to her.

Ruth 1:19 And they two went until they came to Bethlehem. And it came to pass, when they came to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about them, and the [women] said, Is this Naomi?

Ruth 1:20 And she said to them, Call me not Naomi call me Mara; for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.

Ruth 1:21 I went out full, and Jehovah has brought me home again empty. Why do ye call me Naomi, seeing Jehovah has brought me low, and the Almighty has afflicted me?

Ruth 1:22 So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her, who returned out of the fields of Moab; and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of the barley-harvest.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "said", "call", "naomi", "mara", "almighty", "dealt", and "very". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "said" and "call", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 19's "And they two went until they came..." into verse 21's "I went out full and Jehovah has...", so "said" and "call" belong inside that flow. In Ruth context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "said" and "call" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.