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

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

But Ruth replied, "Stop urging me to abandon you! For wherever you go, I will go. Wherever you live, I will live. Your people will become my people, and your God will become my God.

Boaz replied to her, "I have been given a full report of all that you have done for your mother-in-law following the death of your husband -- how you left your father and your mother, as well as your homeland, and came to live among people you did not know previously.