Naomi

Etymology

From the Hebrew root 'naem' (נָעֵם), meaning pleasant, delightful, lovely. When she returned to Bethlehem in grief, she said, 'Don't call me Naomi (pleasant). Call me Mara (bitter), because the Almighty has made my life very bitter.' The book of Ruth is the story of her name being restored.

Who they were

Naomi's story is a journey from fullness to emptiness and back. She left Bethlehem (whose name means 'house of bread') during a famine — a bitter irony — and went to Moab with her husband Elimelech and two sons. In Moab, her husband died. Her sons married Moabite women, then both sons died. Naomi was left with nothing: no husband, no sons, no grandchildren, no income, no future in a world where women depended entirely on male relatives. She told her daughters-in-law to go home. Orpah went. Ruth refused: 'Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.' They returned to Bethlehem together. Naomi was strategic — she sent Ruth to glean in Boaz's fields, knowing Boaz was a kinsman-redeemer. She coached Ruth through the threshing-floor encounter. Her plan worked. Ruth married Boaz. When their son Obed was born, the women of Bethlehem told Naomi, 'He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.' The book ends with Naomi holding her grandson — pleasant at last. Through Obed came Jesse, then David, then ultimately Jesus. Naomi's story insists that bitterness is not the end of the story.

Family

Spouse

Elimelech (died in Moab)

Children

Mahlon (died),Kilion (died)

Character qualities

• Honest grief
• Strategic thinking in crisis
• Capacity to receive love
• Willingness to rename herself in pain
• Restoration through relationship

Key verse

Ruth 1:20-21

Where they appear

Themes

Variants & related forms

Noemi · Noemie · Noomi

Related names