1 Now it came about in the days when the judges+ administered justice that a famine+ arose in the land, and a man proceeded to go from Bethʹle·hem+ in Judah to reside as an alien in the fields of Moʹab,+ he with his wife and his two sons.

2 “And you, O Bethʹle·hem* Ephʹra·thah,+ the one too little to get to be among the thousands of Judah,+ from you*+ there will come out to me the one who is to become ruler in Israel,+ whose origin* is from early times, from the days of time indefinite.+