or Nao’mi (my delight), the wife of Elimelech and mother-in-law of Ruth (Ruth 1:2, etc.; Ruth 2:1, etc.; Ruth 3:1; 4:3, etc.). The name is derived from a root signifying sweetness or pleasantness. Naomi left Judea with her husband and two sons in a time of famine and went to the land of Moab. Here her husband and sons died, and on her return to Bethlehem she wished to be known as Mara, bitterness, instead of Naomi, sweetness.