This text is part of:
Search the Perseus Catalog for:
View text chunked by:
[318]
NOW after the death of Samson, Eli the high priest was governor of
the Israelites. Under him, when the country was afflicted with a famine,
Elimelech of Bethlehem, which is a city of the tribe of Judah, being not
able to support his family under so sore a distress, took with him Naomi
his wife, and the children that were born to him by her, Chillon and Mahlon,
and removed his habitation into the land of Moab; and upon the happy prosperity
of his affairs there, he took for his sons wives of the Moabites, Orpah
for Chillon, and Ruth for Mahlon. But in the compass of ten years, both
Elimelech, and a little while after him, the sons, died; and Naomi being
very uneasy at these accidents, and not being able to bear her lonesome
condition, now those that were dearest to her were dead, on whose account
it was that she had gone away from her own country, she returned to it
again, for she had been informed it was now in a flourishing condition.
However, her daughters-in-law were not able to think of parting with her;
and when they had a mind to go out of the country with her, she could not
dissuade them from it; but when they insisted upon it, she wished them
a more happy wedlock than they had with her sons, and that they might have
prosperity in other respects also; and seeing her own affairs were so low,
she exhorted them to stay where they were, and not to think of leaving
their own country, and partaking with her of that uncertainty under which
she must return. Accordingly Orpah staid behind; but she took Ruth along
with her, as not to be persuaded to stay behind her, but would take her
fortune with her, whatsoever it should prove.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.