Ruth 1:4
New International Version
They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years,

New Living Translation
The two sons married Moabite women. One married a woman named Orpah, and the other a woman named Ruth. But about ten years later,

English Standard Version
These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years,

Berean Standard Bible
who took Moabite women as their wives, one named Orpah and the other named Ruth. And after they had lived in Moab about ten years,

King James Bible
And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years.

New King James Version
Now they took wives of the women of Moab: the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth. And they dwelt there about ten years.

New American Standard Bible
And they took for themselves Moabite women as wives; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other, Ruth. And they lived there about ten years.

NASB 1995
They took for themselves Moabite women as wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. And they lived there about ten years.

NASB 1977
And they took for themselves Moabite women as wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. And they lived there about ten years.

Legacy Standard Bible
They took for themselves Moabite women as wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. And they lived there about ten years.

Amplified Bible
They took wives from the Moabite women; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other was Ruth. They lived there about ten years;

Christian Standard Bible
Her sons took Moabite women as their wives: one was named Orpah and the second was named Ruth. After they lived in Moab about ten years,

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Her sons took Moabite women as their wives: one was named Orpah and the second was named Ruth. After they lived in Moab about 10 years,

American Standard Version
And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelt there about ten years.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And they took to themselves wives, Moabites; the name of one, Arpha and the name of the other, Ruth, and they dwelt there about ten years

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And they took to themselves wives, women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpha, and the name of the second Ruth; and they dwelt there about ten years.

Contemporary English Version
Later, Naomi's sons married Moabite women. One was named Orpah and the other Ruth. About ten years later,

Douay-Rheims Bible
And they took wives of the women of Moab, of which one was called Orpha, and the other Ruth. And they dwelt there ten years.

English Revised Version
And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Each son married a woman from Moab. One son married a woman named Orpah, and the other son married a woman named Ruth. They lived there for about ten years.

Good News Translation
who married Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth. About ten years later

International Standard Version
Each of her sons married Moabite women: one named Orpah and the other named Ruth. After they lived there about ten years,

JPS Tanakh 1917
And they took them wives of the women of Moab: the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth; and they dwelt there about ten years.

Literal Standard Version
and they take to them wives, Moabitesses: the name of the first [is] Orpah, and the name of the second Ruth; and they dwell there about ten years.

Majority Standard Bible
who took Moabite women as their wives, one named Orpah and the other named Ruth. And after they had lived in Moab about ten years,

New American Bible
They married Moabite women, one named Orpah, the other Ruth. When they had lived there about ten years,

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

New Revised Standard Version
These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. When they had lived there about ten years,

New Heart English Bible
And they took for themselves wives from the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they lived there about ten years.

Webster's Bible Translation
And they took to themselves wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelt there about ten years.

World English Bible
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.

Young's Literal Translation
and they take to them wives, Moabitesses: the name of the one is Orpah, and the name of the second Ruth; and they dwell there about ten years.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Naomi Becomes a Widow
3Then Naomi’s husband Elimelech died, and she was left with her two sons, 4who took Moabite women as their wives, one named Orpah and the other named Ruth. And after they had lived in Moab about ten years, 5both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and without her husband.…

Cross References
Ruth 1:3
Then Naomi's husband Elimelech died, and she was left with her two sons,

Ruth 1:5
both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and without her husband.


Treasury of Scripture

And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years.

wives

Deuteronomy 7:3
Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.

Deuteronomy 23:3
An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the LORD for ever:

1 Kings 11:1,2
But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites; …

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Abode Dwell Dwelled Dwelt Married Moab Moabite Moabitish Orpah Ruth Second Ten Themselves Wives Women
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Abode Dwell Dwelled Dwelt Married Moab Moabite Moabitish Orpah Ruth Second Ten Themselves Wives Women
Ruth 1
1. Elimelech, driven by famine into Moab, dies there
4. Mahlon and Chilion, having married wives of Moab, die also
6. Naomi, returning homeward
8. dissuades her two daughters-in-law from going with her
14. Orpah leaves her, but Ruth with great constancy accompanies her
19. The two come to Bethlehem, where they are gladly received














(4) They took them wives.--This seems to have been after the father's death. The fault of settling on a heathen soil begun by the father is carried on by the sons in marrying heathen women, for such we cannot doubt they must have been in the first instance. The Targum (or ancient Chaldee paraphrase) says: "They transgressed against the decree of the Word of the Lord, and took to themselves strange wives." This act was to incur a further risk of being involved in idolatry, as King Solomon found.

Ruth.--This name will mean either "comeliness" or "companion." according to the spelling of which we suppose the present name to be a contraction. The Syriac spelling supports the latter view. Ruth was the wife of Mahlon (Ruth 4:10), apparently the elder sou. The Targum calls Ruth the daughter of Eglon, king of Moab, obviously from the wish to exalt the dignity of Ruth.

Verse 4. - And they took to themselves wives of the women of Moab. It was their own act. Josephus, reproducing the narrative from memory, represents the event as occurring in the father's lifetime, and as brought about by his arrangement. He says of Elimelech, "Coming into the territory of Moab, he sojourns there, and, things pros-paring according to his mind, he gives in marriage to his sons (ἄγεται τοῖς υἱοῖς) Moabitish wives." Theological critics have here again raised the question, Was it sinful in these emigrant Hebrews to take in marriage daughters of the land? The Chaldee Targumist did not hesitate in his decision. He begins his paraphrase of the verse, thus - "And they transgressed the edict of the word of the Lord, and took to themselves alien wives of the daughters of Mesh." Dr. Thomas Fuller represents Naomi as passionately remonstrating with her sons. He says of himself, "My mouth denieth to be the orator of an unjust action." "Nothing can be brought," he adds, "for the defense of these matches. Something may be said for the excuse of them, but that fetched not from piety, but from policy." It is note worthy, however, that in the text itself, and throughout the entire Book, there is nothing of the nature of condemnation, not the least hint of blame. There was a law, indeed, which laid an interdict upon marriages with Canaanites (see Deuteronomy 7:3). But these Canaanites occupied a peculiar relation to the Hebrews. They were within the line of that Canaan which had become the land of Israel. Israelites and Canaanites were thus living within the same borders as rival claimants of the same territory. It was no wonder that the Canaanites' claim was not to be recognized by the Hebrews. The Moabites, however, living within the lines or "coasts" of their own distinct territory, stood in quite a different relation. And while, for purity's sake, great restrictions were to be laid upon all overtures for naturalization (Deuteronomy 23:3-6), yet the law could never he intended to apply to the families of Hebrews who were settlers in Moab, or to Moabitish females living in their own land, and rather awarding than seeking the prerogatives' of natives. The name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth. No doubt native Moabitish names. Much ingenuity has been expended on that of the more interesting person. Some have unwarrantably assumed that Ruth is a contraction of the Hebrew word רְעוּת meaning a female companion or friend. Still more unwarrantable, though more captivating to the aesthetic imagination, is the signification which is given to the word by Weruer and Eadie, namely, beauty. It is founded on an impossible derivation from the Hebrew רָאָה. Still more aesthetically captivating is the conjecture of Cassel, that the name is the ancient Semitic form of the Indo-European word rodon or rose. "At all events," says he, "the thought of Ruth as the Rose of Moab is in itself too attractive not to be proposed as a conjecture." It is certainly, most attractive and most admirable as a jeu d'esprit, but too imaginative to be vindicated on grounds of comparative philology. And they dwelt there. Or, "settled themselves there; literally, "sat them." We still call a gentleman's mansion his seat. About ten years, which, however, are treated by the writer as a mere blank in his story. He hastens on.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
who took
וַיִּשְׂא֣וּ (way·yiś·’ū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 5375: To lift, carry, take

Moabite
מֹֽאֲבִיּ֔וֹת (mō·’ă·ḇî·yō·wṯ)
Noun - proper - feminine plural
Strong's 4125: Moabite -- descendant of Moab

women as their wives,
נָשִׁים֙ (nā·šîm)
Noun - feminine plural
Strong's 802: Woman, wife, female

one
הָֽאַחַת֙ (hā·’a·ḥaṯ)
Article | Number - feminine singular
Strong's 259: United, one, first

named
שֵׁ֤ם (šêm)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 8034: A name

Orpah
עָרְפָּ֔ה (‘ā·rə·pāh)
Noun - proper - feminine singular
Strong's 6204: Orpah -- sister-in-law of Ruth

and the other
הַשֵּׁנִ֖ית (haš·šê·nîṯ)
Article | Number - ordinal feminine singular
Strong's 8145: Second (an ordinal number)

named
וְשֵׁ֥ם (wə·šêm)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 8034: A name

Ruth.
ר֑וּת (rūṯ)
Noun - proper - feminine singular
Strong's 7327: Ruth -- 'friendship', a Moabite ancestress of David

And after they had lived
וַיֵּ֥שְׁבוּ (way·yê·šə·ḇū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 3427: To sit down, to dwell, to remain, to settle, to marry

in Moab
שָׁ֖ם (šām)
Adverb
Strong's 8033: There, then, thither

about ten
כְּעֶ֥שֶׂר (kə·‘e·śer)
Preposition-k | Number - feminine singular construct
Strong's 6235: Ten

years,
שָׁנִֽים׃ (šā·nîm)
Noun - feminine plural
Strong's 8141: A year


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OT History: Ruth 1:4 They took them wives of the women (Ru Rut.)
Ruth 1:3
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