Ruth 1:4

Study note

Setting — The narrator describes Elimelech’s two sons immediately after his death, placing their marriages and decade-long residency in Moab between the events of Ruth 1:3 and Ruth 1:5.

The words — וַ/יִּשְׂא֣וּ (va/yis'u) literally means “and they took,” and מֹֽאֲבִיּ֔וֹת (mo'aviyot) specifies “Moabite women,” identifying the ethnic origin of the brides Orpah and Ruth.

The thread — The verse’s account of foreign marriages surfaces in Matthew 1:5 as part of the genealogical record, while Deuteronomy 7:3 and Deuteronomy 23:3 later establish Torah boundaries concerning relations with Moabites.

Why it lands — The text requires the reader to acknowledge that Israelite men can marry outside their community and dwell in a foreign land for ten years, a factual baseline that later covenant law and redemptive history must confront.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.