וַתֹּ֣אמֶר אֲלֵיהֶ֔ן אַל־תִּקְרֶ֥אנָה לִ֖י נָעֳמִ֑י קְרֶ֤אןָ לִי֙ מָרָ֔א כִּי־הֵמַ֥ר שַׁדַּ֛י לִ֖י מְאֹֽד׃
20She said to them,
“Call me no longer Naomi;
call me Mara,
for the Almighty has dealt bitterly with me.
The Hebrew that is transliterated as “Naomi” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with the sign for “changed identity” referring to the many life changes that Naomi goes through in the book of Ruth. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
“Naomi” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España
For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .
The Hebrew name Mara means “bitter” which is here used as a designator for the state Naomi finds herself in (translated in English: “call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt bitterly with me.” or similar). “However not all languages use the word for ‘bitter’ to describe things like lives, or feelings. In Poqomchi’ we had to translate this as ‘sadness,’ because ‘bitter’ would have meant nothing in this context, and the proposed name change would have been as meaningless as if left unexplained.” (Source: Ronald Ross)
In Noongar the word for “bitter” is djadam which also means “sour.” (Source: Bardip Ruth-Ang 2020)
Following is a back-translation of Ruth 1 from a song presented in the traditional Fang troubadour style (mvét oyeng) as part of a project by Bethany and Andrew Case. (For more information about this, see Case / Case 2019)
Verse 1 – It happened that, in the time of the chiefs, they were governing Israel, and hunger came there to the regions of those lands.
2 – It came about that a man of the town that they call Bethlehem, the clans of the lands of Ephrata, they called him Elimelek.
Then he moved from there, he moved, saying, “I will try to go and live in the regions of the lands of Moab.”
When he went there, he went with [his] wife, [his] wife Naomi, and his two sons, his grown sons.
One was named Mahlon, and the other was Kilion.
All those were people of Ephrata.
After they arrived in Moab there, then they lived there, living.
4/5 – Left like that, [with] only just one thing her two sons, when they were left, then these two sons also married two girls, young Moabite women.
One of them was named Orpah, and the other was named Ruth.
And it came about that after ten years passed, ten years, then these two sons of hers also died there, beginning with Malon and Kilion.
Then Naomi was left only all alone [lit. point and point: a bird’s beak from which its worm has fallen] with nothing.
6 – Then it came about that Naomi, living in Moab [unclear].
There she found out that Yahweh had had compassion on her town’s/people’s pain, the famine had ended, ending.
7 – Then Naomi said there that, “right now, I’m going back to Judah.”
When she was returning, then she went together with her two daughter-in-laws.
They left the place where they were and at that time they went.
8 – When they were walking on the road, then she said to them, “Oh my daughters-in-law, go back to your houses, to the houses of your mothers, please go back.”
9 – “I ask Yahweh that he treat you well at all times just like you also treated me and my sons.”
“I continually repeatedly again and again ask that Yahweh give you a place that is just and solid/secure, that he give you homes and also give you new husbands.”
Then Naomi kissed them on the cheeks, a goodbye kiss.
10 – Then the girls wept and they said “We will not go back, oh Naomi, we will go with you to your land.”
11 – Then Naomi insisted again, and said to them, “O my daughters, please go back.”
“Do you really wish to return with me, to go and do what?”
I can no longer again have other children for them to again marry you, please go back to your homes.
12 – I am too old, I cannot again go into marriage.
Even if I did also go into it, and bear two sons this night, oh my daughters, would you begin to wait again for these sons, for them to be your husbands?
13 – In this time you are without husbands, and for how long?
No no, oh my daughters, my evil is too great, and surpasses yours [lit. my evil it exaggerates with bigness to pass this with yours].
The hand of Yahweh has struck me, striking.”
14 – Then they opened their mouths (wept), they were crying.
After they finished crying, then Orpha afterward went to kiss [her] mother-in-law, kissing goodbye.
Then Ruth, she insisted to her that she would not go.
15 – Then Naomi said to her, “Look, the other has gone to her people.
Go youuuu too with her to the place where your gods are, go with her.”
Ñeŋǃ
16 – Then Ruth answered her, “Don’t you ask me that I separate from you.
Don’t you ask me that I separate from you.”
Because the place where you go, to it also I will go.
The place where you’re going to live, there also I am going to live.
Your people this also will be my people.
Your god this too will be my god.
17 – The place where you will die, in this also I will die, I tell you truly (lit. truth and truth).
I say that may Yahweh strike me, may he punish me severely (lit. [punish me with real punishment]) if I separate from you except only that death do it.”
18 – Then it happened that, when Naomi saw that Ruth insisted [with] real insistence [firmness], she didn’t insist anymore, then she said, “Let’s go”.
They began to walk, they’re going, they’re going.
19 – When it happened that they have already entered Bethlehem, that they have already arrived.
Then there in the town people began going and looking, [saying], “wow, but who is this?
Who is this?
Is it not Naomi who’s coming over there?
Yes, wow, it is Naomi.
Aáaáaáa
Aaáǃ
20 – After Naomi knew that she was the one they were talking about, then she said, “Don’t call me again Naomi.
Naomi means I have a glad heart, I am well.
And now that I’m here, please call me Mara because God Almighty has given me bitter and bitter, bitter and bitter, this has filled my body.
21 – When I left here to go, I left here [with] my hands full.
When I was returning now, I was coming [with] my hands now emptied, because thus Yahweh has wanted it, so why do you again call me Naomi?
When Yahweh, he who is all-powerful has lowered me to the ground, this kind of punishment that I have here.”
22 – In that way, Naomi returned to Moab with her daughter-in-law Ruth, she who is a young Moabite woman.
In that way, they arrived in Bethlehem, finding that the time of harvesting food had arrived.
The symbolical use of personal names is common in Bantu languages as well. It would not be surprising for a person to change his/her name after experiencing some severe misfortune or affliction, e.g., to Mavuto “Troubles” (Chichewa). In this case the actual meaning of the names cited here probably ought to be put into the text, or their significance, and in addition a certain dramatic impact, will be lost to the listener; e.g., “Don’t call me Naomi, the Happy One,” she answered, “call me Mara, the Sad One . . . ” (Good News Bible). An explanatory footnote is also possible, but this has the distinct disadvantage of diminishing the forcefulness of the original at this point, which is the climax of Chapter 1. Since puns are as popular and appreciated in a Bantu language as in Hebrew, it is not difficult to reproduce the play on words which occurs at the end of this verse; e.g., ” . . . because God Almighty has troubled me very much (or caused my heart to become bitter; Chichewa).”
Source: Wendland 1987, p. 171.
Following are a number of back-translations of Ruth 1:18-1:21:
Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between. One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a benefactive construction as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017.
Here, yonde (呼んで) or “call” is used in combination with kudasaru (くださる), a respectful form of the benefactive kureru (くれる). A benefactive reflects the good will of the giver or the gratitude of a recipient of the favor. To convey this connotation, English translation needs to employ a phrase such as “for me (my sake)” or “for you (your sake).” (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
The Hebrew text does not attempt to identify the meanings of Naomi and Marah, since to any Hebrew reader the meaning would be obvious: Naomi would be understood as meaning “happy,” and Marah would be understood as meaning “bitter.” However, it may be useful to introduce something of the meaning of Naomi and Mara into the text itself; for example, “Don’t call me Naomi, the Happy One, … Call me Mara, the Sad One.” One can, of course, simply keep the names Naomi and Mara and then provide the meanings for these terms in a marginal note. Observe that Good News Translation explains both Naomi and Mara by a marginal note at this point.
Almighty God renders the Hebrew proper name Shaddai. It is impossible here to deal with all of the problems represented by this proper name. It occurs in a number of writings as another name for Yahweh, See Johs. Pedersen, Israel, Its Life and Culture, III-IV, London and Copenhagen, 1947, page 665; Alt, “Der Gott der Väter,” Beitr. z. Wiss. vom AT, 3 Folge, Heft 12, 1929. According to B. D. Eerdmans (k The Religion of Israel, Leiden, 1947, page 20), Yahweh is identified in a few passages with Shaddai, but in others El Shaddai refers to the protecting genius of the family. In all other instances Shaddai should be distinguished from Yahweh. Only in a later period in which all divine powers were absorbed by Yahweh, Shaddai became equivalent with the God of the covenant. See also B. D. Eerdmans, Studies in Job 1939, page 12. One should not exclude the possibility that Ruth 1.20b contains an allusion to Job 27.2. This could account for the use of Shaddai, which is found only in 1.20-21. and a translator may transcribe Shaddai as do some modern translations (for example, Bible de Jérusalem and Dhorme). A more common practice is to employ a translation such as “the Almighty” or “Almighty God.” To do so implies, of course, that the name is translatable, whereas in reality its meaning is quite obscure. For the different proposals as to the possible derivations, as well as for the literature on the subject, see the dictionaries. However, the translation “Almighty” does have a very old tradition, and therefore one may be justified in using some such expression as “the most powerful God,” “God who can do all things,” or “the most powerful One.”
Has made my life bitter involves a pun in Hebrew, since Marah (Revised Standard Version “Mara,” following the Masoretic text) may be used not only to describe a person, but to identify the way in which one has been caused to suffer. Moffatt attempts to bring a play on words in his English translation: “Call me Mara, for the Almighty has cruelly marred me.” Accidentally, because English “mar” seems to be derived from a Germanic root marr-II. Compare R. Grandsaignes d’Hauterive, Dictionnaire des racines des langues européennes, Paris, 1948, s.v. marr-II. Sometimes one can preserve something of the pun by translating “Call me Mara because the Almighty God has treated me bitterly,” in which case it is necessary to have a footnote indicating that Mara means “bitter.” There is, however, a serious complication for such a translation in English. If one says “Call me Mara, the Bitter One,” then “bitter” may be understood in a wrong sense, and even the phrase “has treated me bitterly” could appear to refer to God’s attitude rather than to the extent of Naomi’s suffering. Even a translation such as “it is a bitter lot that the Almighty has sent me,” though somewhat more acceptable in English, would rarely be translatable literally into another language.
Quoted with permission from de Waard, Jan and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Ruth. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1978, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
1:20a
Do not call me Naomi: The Hebrew name Naomi means “happy, pleasant.” The original readers would have understood that Naomi was telling the women that she was not happy.
she replied: The Hebrew clause that the Berean Standard Bible translates as she replied occurs at the beginning of the sentence. The Berean Standard Bible has placed these words in the middle of the verse for reasons of English style. It may be more natural in your language to put them at the beginning of the sentence. For example:
But she replied to them, “Don’t call me ‘Naomi’! Call me ‘Mara’ (NET Bible)
Call me Mara: The Hebrew name Mara means “bitter.” The original readers would have understood that Naomi was telling the women that now she was bitter and unhappy. This is the same Hebrew word as was used in verse 13. If possible, you should translate it with the same word in both places.
There are two ways to help the readers of your language understand why Naomi said this.
• Explain the meaning of these names in a footnote. For example:
FOOTNOTE: The name Naomi means “happy” in Hebrew. The name Mara means “bitter” in Hebrew.
• Explain the meaning within the text of the verse. For example:
Don’t call me Naomi [sweet]. Call me Mara [bitter] (God’s Word)
1:20b
because: The Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as because introduces the reason why Naomi wanted the women to call her bitter.
the Almighty has dealt quite bitterly with me: The Hebrew term that the Berean Standard Bible translates as the Almighty is one of the names for God. The exact meaning of this term is uncertain. It probably refers to God’s power.
Here are some other ways to translate this term:
God all powerful (English Easy-to-Read Version)
-or-
God who has all power
-or-
Almighty God (Good News Translation)
Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
The Mighty One has made my life very bitter. (NIRV)
-or-
God All Powerful has made my life very sad. (ICB)
-or-
For the All-powerful has brought much trouble to me. (NLV)
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