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.