¹⁹ The two of them travelled until they came to Bethlehem. When they entered Bethlehem, the whole town was excited about their arrival^[a](A) and the local women exclaimed, ‘Can this be Naomi? ’

²⁰ ‘Don’t call me Naomi. Call me Mara,’^[b] she answered, ‘for the Almighty^(B) has made me very bitter.^{(C) 21} I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty.^(D) Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has opposed^[c] me, and the Almighty has afflicted me? ’

¹⁵ ‘No, my lord,’ Hannah replied. ‘I am a woman with a broken heart. I haven’t had any wine or beer; I’ve been pouring out my heart before the Lord.^(A)

Mourning for the Pierced One

¹⁰ ‘Then I will pour out a spirit^[a](A) of grace and prayer on the house of David and the residents of Jerusalem, and they will look at^[b] me whom they pierced. They will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child and weep bitterly for him as one weeps for a firstborn.^(B)