Sometime later ¹  Naomi’s husband Elimelech died, so she and her two sons were left alone.

Then Naomi’s two sons, Mahlon and Kilion, also died. ¹  So the woman was left all alone – bereaved of her two children ²  as well as her husband!

So Boaz married Ruth and had sexual relations with her. ¹  The Lord enabled her to conceive ²  and she gave birth to a son.

The neighbor women named him, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi.” They named him Obed. ¹  Now he became the father of Jesse – David’s father!

But Naomi replied, “Go back home, my daughters! There is no reason for you to return to Judah with me! ¹  I am no longer capable of giving birth to sons who might become your husbands! ² 

He will encourage you and provide for you when you are old, ¹  for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, has given him birth. She ²  is better to you than seven sons!”

(Now the man’s name was Elimelech, ¹  his wife was Naomi, ²  and his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. ³  They were of the clan of Ephrath ⁴  from Bethlehem in Judah.) They entered the region of Moab and settled there. ⁵ 

Go back home, my daughters! For I am too old to get married again. ¹  Even if I thought that there was hope that I could get married tonight and conceive sons, ² 

So her sons ¹  married ²  Moabite women. (One was named Orpah and the other Ruth.) ³  And they continued to live there about ten years.

During the time of the judges ¹  there was a famine in the land of Judah. ²  So a man from Bethlehem ³  in Judah went to live as a resident foreigner ⁴  in the region of Moab, along with his wife and two sons. ⁵ 

May your family ¹  become like the family of Perez ²  – whom Tamar bore to Judah – through the descendants ³  the Lord gives you by this young woman.”

I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, the wife of Mahlon, as my wife to raise up a descendant who will inherit his property ¹  so the name of the deceased might not disappear ²  from among his relatives and from his village. ³  You are witnesses today.”