"There was a famine in the land during the time of the Judges, and a man from Bethlehem in Judah departed with his wife and two sons, to sojourn in the country of Moab. Naomi's husband Elimelech died. She was left with her two sons, who married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth.
After living in Moab for about ten years, Mahlon and Chilion also died; and Naomi was left bereft of husband and two sons. Having heard that YAHWEH had come to help HIS people by giving them food, Naomi prepared to return home.
Naomi said, 'Return home, my daughters. Why should you come with me, when I have no more sons to become your husbands?'
Again, they sobbed and wept. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her. Naomi said, 'Look, your sister-in-law returns to her people and her gods. You too must return. Go after her.'
Ruth replied, 'Don't ask me to leave you. For I will go where you go and stay where you stay. Your people will be my people and your GOD, my GOD. Where you die, there will I die and be buried. May YAHWEY deal with me severely if anything except death separates us'.
Thus, it was that Naomi returned from Moab with her Moabite daughter-in-law and arrived in Bethlehem as the barley harvest began. " - Ruth 1:1. 3-6. 11. 14-17. 22
(A spirit of supranational openness inspires this story written around the 4th century B.C. Shortly before this, Ezra had forced the Jews to get rid of their foreign wives who might have enticed them to follow pagan religions. By contrast, here the protagonist of the story is a foreign woman. Ruth accepts the true GOD of Israel and she is welcomed into the community of the people of GOD.)
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