1-2. Long ago, in the days before Israel had a king, there was a famine in the land. So a man named Elimelech, who belonged to the clan of Ephrath and who lived in Bethlehem in Judah, went with his wife Naomi and their two sons Mahlon and Chilion to live for a while in the country of Moab. While they were living there,
3. Elimelech died, and Naomi was left alone with her two sons,
4. who married Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth. About ten years later
5. Mahlon and Chilion also died, and Naomi was left all alone, without husband or sons.
6. Some time later Naomi heard that the Lord had blessed his people by giving them a good harvest; so she got ready to leave Moab with her daughters-in-law.
7. They started out together to go back to Judah, but on the way
8. she said to them, “Go back home and stay with your mothers. May the Lord be as good to you as you have been to me and to those who have died.