The Story of Ruth

Jul 15, 2026

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The Story of Ruth covers Ruth 1–4 in an English spiritual narrative. It begins with famine in Israel before kings and judges, leading Elimelech of Bethlehem to take Naomi and their two sons to Moab for food. After Elimelech dies, Naomi is left with her sons, who later marry Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth. When the sons die and famine ends, Naomi learns of renewed crops in Israel and returns toward Judah with her daughters-in-law.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryReligion & Spirituality

FormatPDF

Pages50

Reading Time2 h 6 min

Narrative Background

Famine and Departure to Moab

Deaths and Family Loss

Return Toward Judah

041 The Story of Ruth Ruth 1-4 English Spiritual 041 The Story of Ruth English © 2020 Wycliffe Bible Translators, Inc. [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) You are free to make commercial use of this work. You may adapt and add to this work, but you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one. You must keep the copyright and credits for authors, illustrators, etc. Original illustrations by Jim Padgett, © Sweet Publishing licensed under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license. [www.sweetpublishing.com](www.sweetpublishing.com) Wycliffe Bible Translators, Inc. has skin darkened all of the Jim Padgett illustrations in our collection, and has modified some of them. Story script © 2018 Wycliffe Bible Translators, Inc. licensed under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. Template © 2017 Wycliffe Bible Translators, Inc. licensed under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. Music © 2017 Wycliffe Bible Translators, Inc. licensed under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. A special thanks to the 50+ unnamed people who worked on the story scripts, templates, adapted illustrations and music. Long ago, in the days before Israel had a king and judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. An Israelite named Elimelech, who lived in the town of Bethlehem in Judah, went with his wife Naomi and their two sons to live for a while in the country of Moab where there was food. While they were living there, Elimelech died, and this left Naomi alone with her two sons. Naomi’s sons married women from Moab. Orpah was the name of one of them and Ruth was the name of the other. About ten years later, Naomi’s two sons also died. So then, this left Naomi alone with only her two Moabite daughters-in-law. After some time, the famine passed. Naomi heard that the Lord had blessed the Israelites with good crops. She and her daughters-in-law left Moab and set out on the road that led back to Judah.

FAQs

What causes Elimelech and his family to leave Bethlehem?

A famine occurs in the land before Israel had a king, so Elimelech takes his wife Naomi and their two sons to Moab where food is available.

Who are Orpah and Ruth in the story?

Orpah and Ruth are the two Moabite women Naomi’s sons marry, with Orpah being one and Ruth being the other.

How does the story set up Naomi’s return to Judah?

After the famine passes, Naomi hears that the Lord has blessed Israel with good crops, so she leaves Moab and travels back toward Judah with her daughters-in-law.

Jul 15, 2026

Upload by Asher