During the time when the judges ruled, there lived a man by the name of Elimelech, he was from Bethlehem, in Judea. There he lived with his wife Naomi, and their two son's Mahlon and Kilion. Because there was a famon in the land, Elimelech decided he would take his family and go live for a while in the land of Moab, it was a land foreign to his customs, and to his God.