⁵ They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it has been written by the prophet:^(A)

⁴² Has not the scripture said that the Messiah^[a] is descended from David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?”^(A)

Elimelech’s Family Goes to Moab

1 In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to live in the country of Moab, he and his wife and two sons.^(A)

David Anointed as King

16 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.”^(A)

⁴ Just then Boaz came from Bethlehem. He said to the reapers, “The Lord be with you.” They answered, “The Lord bless you.”^(A)

¹¹ Then all the people who were at the gate, along with the elders, said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your house like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you produce children^[a] in Ephrathah and bestow a name in Bethlehem;^(A)

¹⁹ So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women said, “Is this Naomi?”

¹⁵ and Kattath, Nahalal, Shimron, Idalah, and Bethlehem—twelve towns with their villages.^(A)

¹⁹ And Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem,^(A)