In the time when the judges judged, there fell a dearth in the land. Wherefore a certain man of Bethlehem Judah went for to sojourn in the country of Moab with his wife and two sons.

The name of the man was Elimelech, and his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion and they were Ephraimites, out of Bethlehem Judah. And when they came into the land of Moab, they continued there.

Wherefore she departed out of the place where she was, and her two daughters with her. And as they went by the way returning unto the land of Judah,

and that thine house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bare unto Judah, even of the seed which the LORD shall give thee of this young woman."