1. And it cometh to pass, in the days of the judging of the judges, that there is a famine in the land, and there goeth a man from Beth-Lehem-Judah to sojourn in the fields of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.
2. And the name of the man [is] Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites from Beth-Lehem-Judah; and they come into the fields of Moab, and are there.
3. And Elimelech husband of Naomi dieth, and she is left, she and her two sons;
4. and they take to them wives, Moabitesses: the name of the one [is] Orpah, and the name of the second Ruth; and they dwell there about ten years.
5. And they die also, both of them--Mahlon and Chilion--and the woman is left of her two children and of her husband.
6. And she riseth, she and her daughters-in-law, and turneth back from the fields of Moab, for she hath heard in the fields of Moab that God hath looked after His people, --to give to them bread.
7. And she goeth out from the place where she hath been, and her two daughters-in-law with her, and they go in the way to turn back unto the land of Judah.
8. And Naomi saith to her two daughters-in-law, `Go, turn back, each to the house of her mother; Jehovah doth with you kindness as ye have done with the dead, and with me;
9. Jehovah doth grant to you, and find ye rest each in the house of her husband;' and she kisseth them, and they lift up their voice and weep.