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Person Old Testament

Mahlon

Mahlon, the son of Elimelech and Naomi, married Ruth but died in Moab. Mentioned in 4 verses across 1 book, first at Ruth 1:2.

Why it matters. Husband of Ruth, son of Elimelech and Naomi.

Last reviewed
2026-08-30 by the FaithGraph team

About Mahlon

Mahlon was the son of Elimelech and Naomi from Bethlehem in Judah. He had a brother named Chilion. Due to a famine in Judah, Elimelech took his family to live in the country of Moab. There, Mahlon married a Moabite woman named Ruth. However, Elimelech, Mahlon, and Chilion all died in Moab, leaving Naomi and her daughters-in-law as widows. When Naomi decided to return to Judah, Ruth chose to go with her. In Bethlehem, Boaz, a relative of Elimelech, acted as a kinsman-redeemer. He married Ruth and bought the property that had belonged to Elimelech, Chilion, and Mahlon to maintain their inheritance (Rut.1.2, 5; 4.9, 10).

Description from STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, lightly reformatted. This is background reference material, not Scripture and not a FaithGraph editorial claim.

Connections

No reviewed connections yet.

Family

Family links from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0). Where the dataset marks an identification as uncertain, the mark is kept. Matthew and Luke give different genealogies for Jesus; see the Lineage page, which never merges them.

Siblings
Chilion
Spouse
Ruth

Appears in Scripture

Named in 4 verses across 1 book. Occurrence data from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0); references only, no translation text.

Record type: Person. FaithGraph explanations on this page are editorial and are not Scripture.