Ruth 4

¹ Meanwhile Boaz had gone up to the gate of the town and sat down, and the relative of whom he had spoken chanced to come past. Boaz said to him, ‘Come here, man, and sit down’; and he came and sat down.

² Then Boaz picked out ten of the town’s elders and said to them, ‘Sit down here’, and they sat down.

³ Then Boaz said to the man who had right of redemption, ‘Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our brother, Elimelech.

⁴ I thought I should tell you about this and say: Buy it in the presence of the men who are sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you want to use your right of redemption, redeem it; if you do not, tell me so and I shall know, for there is no one but you to redeem it except me, though I come after you, myself.’ And he said, ‘I am willing to redeem it’.

⁵ But Boaz continued, ‘On the day you purchase the land from Naomi, you purchase Ruth the Moabitess also, the wife of the dead man,[*a] and so restore his name to his inheritance’.

⁶ And the man with right of redemption said, ‘Then I cannot use my right of redemption, without jeopardising my own inheritance. As I cannot use my right of redemption, exercise the right yourself.’

⁷ Now in former times it was the custom in Israel, in matters of redemption or exchange, to confirm the transaction by one of the parties removing his sandal and giving it to the other. In Israel this was the form of ratification in the presence of witnesses.

⁸ So when the man with right of redemption said to Boaz, ‘Purchase it for yourself’, he took off his sandal.

⁹ Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, ‘You are witnesses this day that I buy from Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech, to Chilion and to Mahlon.

¹⁰ You are witnesses too that I buy Ruth the Moabitess, Mahlon’s widow, to be my wife, to keep the name of the dead man in his inheritance, so that the dead man’s name may not die out among his brothers and at the gate of his town.’

¹¹ All the people at the gate said, ‘We are witnesses’; and the elders said, ‘May Yahweh make the woman who is to enter your House like Rachel and Leah who together built up the House of Israel.’Grow mighty in Ephrathah, be renowned in Bethlehem.

¹² And through the children Yahweh will give you by this young woman, may your House become like the House of Perez whom Tamar bore to Judah.’

¹³ So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. And when they came together, Yahweh made her conceive and she bore a son.

¹⁴ And the women said to Naomi, ‘Blessed be Yahweh who has not left the dead man without next of kin this day to perpetuate his name in Israel.

¹⁵ The child will be a comfort to you and the prop of your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you and is more to you than seven sons has given him birth.’

¹⁶ And Naomi took the child to her own bosom and she became his nurse.[*b]

¹⁷ And the women of the neighbourhood gave him a name. ‘A son has been born for Naomi’ they said; and they named him Obed. This was the father of David’s father, Jesse.

¹⁸ These are the descendants of Perez. Perez was the father of Hezron,

¹⁹ Hezron of Ram, Ram of Amminadab,

²⁰ Amminadab of Nahshon, Nahshon of Salmon,

²¹ Salmon of Boaz, Boaz of Obed,

²² Obed of Jesse, and Jesse of David.