Ruth 1:4 tells us that the sons of Naomi married Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth, and that the family settled there for about ten years. The verse is a plain record of a marriage and a stretch of time, but it sets the stage for one of the most loved stories in the Old Testament. The narrator writes it, and it describes the household of Elimelech and Naomi after they left Bethlehem during a famine.
They took for themselves wives of the women of Moab. The name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other was Ruth. They lived there about ten years.
Ruth 1:4 (WEB)
What Ruth 1:4 Means
“They took for themselves wives” tells you that Mahlon and Chilion chose their wives themselves, as young men in that period would. The phrase “of the women of Moab” names where those wives came from. Moab was a neighboring people, often at odds with Israel, so the marriages would have raised eyebrows in Bethlehem. The verse reports the choice without rushing to judge it.
“The name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other was Ruth” gives you two women who will matter a great deal later in the book. Orpah will go back to her own people, while Ruth will cling to Naomi. The verse introduces them quietly, which is why it is easy to skim past.
“They lived there about ten years” tells you the family did not stay a season or two. It was long enough to put down roots and to grow close. The verse does not promise that the years were happy or that they were hard. It only tells you how long the family remained in a foreign land before tragedy struck again.
The Context of Ruth 1:4
The book of Ruth is a short narrative set in the time of the judges, when Israel had no king and each person often did what seemed right in their own eyes. Tradition ascribes the book to Samuel, though the author is not named in the text. It was likely written for Israelites who wanted to understand how a Moabite woman came to be part of the line of David.
Just before verse 4, the chapter describes a famine that drove Elimelech’s family out of Bethlehem, which means “house of bread,” into Moab. Right after verse 4, Mahlon and Chilion die, leaving three widows behind. Read in that setting, verse 4 is the calm stretch between a move born of hunger and a loss that leaves the women with nothing. That placement changes the verse from a simple wedding note into a quiet piece of foreshadowing.
Key Phrases in Ruth 1:4
Ruth 1:16
Ruth said, “Don’t urge me to leave you, and to return from following you, for where you go, I will go; and where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people, and your God my God.
(WEB)
This verse comes just a few lines later, where Ruth pledges herself to Naomi and her God. It shows what Ruth 1:4 quietly prepares you to see, that the Moabite woman named in the earlier verse becomes the one who chooses Israel’s God and people.
Genesis 19:37
The firstborn bore a son, and named him Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day.
(WEB)
This verse traces the origin of the Moabites to Lot’s firstborn daughter. Reading it alongside Ruth 1:4 helps you understand the ancient connection between Israel and Moab, and why the marriages in Ruth’s story carried weight.
A Short Prayer From Ruth 1:4
Lord, you see the places we end up living and the years that pass while we wait for things to make sense. Help us to trust you in unfamiliar seasons, even when we would have chosen differently. Give us faithful hearts in the ordinary choices of our lives, and let us see your hand at work in the long stretches. Amen.
