Ruth 1:1-9

1In the days when the judges ruled in Israel, a severe famine came upon the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah left his home and went to live in the country of Moab, taking his wife and two sons with him.

2The man’s name was Elimelech, and his wife was Naomi. Their two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in the land of Judah. And when they reached Moab, they settled there.

3Then Elimelech died, and Naomi was left with her two sons.

4The two sons married Moabite women. One married a woman named Orpah, and the other a woman named Ruth. But about ten years later,

5both Mahlon and Kilion died. This left Naomi alone, without her two sons or her husband.

6Then Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had blessed his people in Judah by giving them good crops again. So Naomi and her daughters-in-law got ready to leave Moab to return to her homeland.

7With her two daughters-in-law she set out from the place where she had been living, and they took the road that would lead them back to Judah.

8But on the way, Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back to your mothers’ homes. And may the Lord reward you for your kindness to your husbands and to me.

9May the Lord bless you with the security of another marriage.” Then she kissed them good-bye, and they all broke down and wept.