Naomi

From Bible Exegesis

nā´ṓ-mī, nā́-ō´mī, nā́-ō´-mi (נעמי, no‛ŏmī, probably = “pleasantness,” or "the lovable, " or "my delight"; Septuagint. Codex Vaticanus Μωεμείν, Nōemeín; Codex Alexandrinus Νοεμμεί(ν), Noemmeí(n)):

The wife of Elimelech, and mother of Mahlon and Chilion, and mother-in-law of Ruth (Ruth 1:2, Ruth 1:20, Ruth 1:21; Ruth 2:1 through Ruth 4:17). She and her husband Elimelech left the district of Bethlehem-Judah, and found a new home in the uplands of Moab. In course of time her husband died, as also her two sons Mahlon and Chilion, who had married women of Moab, and the three widows were left mourning the loss of their husbands. Naomi longs to return now to her own land, to Bethlehem. One of her widowed daughters-in-law, Ruth, accompanies her, and is at length married to Boaz.

When greeted on her return, she told the women of the town to call her, not no‛ŏmī (“pleasantness”), but mārāh (“bitterness”), “for,” she said, “the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.” She advised Ruth in her dealings with Boaz, and afterward nursed their child.

The name may mean “my joy,” “my bliss,” but is perhaps better explained according to the traditional interpretation as “the pleasant one.”