1 Once back in the time of the judges there was a famine in the land; so a man from Bethlehem of Judah left home with his wife and two sons to reside on the plateau of Moab.
2 The man was named Elimelech, his wife Naomi, and his sons Mahlon and Chilion; they were Ephrathites from Bethlehem of Judah. Some time after their arrival on the plateau of Moab,
3 Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons.
4 They married Moabite women, one named Orpah, the other Ruth. When they had lived there about ten years,
5 both Mahlon and Chilion died also, and the woman was left with neither her two boys nor her husband.
6 She and her daughters-in-law then prepared to go back from the plateau of Moab because word had reached her there that the Lord had seen to his people’s needs and given them food.