1 Back in the time when the judges ruled Israel, there was a drought which caused a shortage of food, so a man from the town of Bethlehem in the region of Yudah went to live in the country of Moab for a while, taking his wife and their two sons. 2 The man’s name was Elimelek and he was married to Naomi, and their sons’ names were Mahlon and Kilion. (They were part of the clan of Ephrathah from Bethlehem in Yudah.) They travelled to the Moab countryside and lived there. 3 Then Naomi’s husband Elimelek died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 Eventually they married women from there in Moab—Orpah and Ruth. But after Naomi and her sons had lived in Moab for about then years, 5 Mahlon and Kilion both also died, and Naomi was left without her husband or her two sons.