Orpah

Orpah, also rendered Orpa in some translations, is a figure in the Hebrew Bible who appears in the Book of Ruth. She is a Moabite woman, one of Naomi's daughters-in-law, and the wife of Chilion, Naomi's son.

In Ruth 1, after a famine forces Naomi to return from Moab to Bethlehem, she urges her daughters-in-law to return to their mothers' households. Orpah reluctantly agrees and kisses Naomi, then departs for Moab. Ruth, by contrast, binds herself to Naomi with a vow of fidelity, choosing to accompany Naomi and adopt Naomi's people and God. Orpah's brief departure makes Ruth's steadfast loyalty central to the narrative and to the eventual acceptance of Ruth, a foreigner, into Naomi's community.

The name Orpah (Orpa in some manuscripts) is of unclear meaning in the Hebrew Bible; scholars note that the etymology is uncertain and that the name appears in different forms in various textual traditions.

Orpah is not further developed as a character in the biblical text and is not listed in genealogies connected to David or later figures. Her presence, however, serves to contrast Ruth's commitment and to set the stage for Ruth's pivotal role in the story of Naomi, Boaz, and the Moabite ancestry of David.