Ruth 4

Then Boaz went up to the town gate and sat down there. Soon the relative Boaz had spoken about came by, and Boaz said to him, "Come over here, friend, and sit down." So the man came over and sat down.

1Then went Boaz up to the gate, and sat him down there: and, behold, the kinsman of whom Boaz spake came by; unto whom he said, Ho, such a one! turn aside, sit down here. And he turned aside, and sat down.

NoteThe gate was the gap in the town wall where everyone passed in and out; the open space just inside it served as the town's courthouse and marketplace, so business needing witnesses was done there. In the Hebrew, Boaz does not use the man's name: he says something like "so-and-so," a placeholder for a name the storyteller does not record.

2Boaz took ten men from the elders of the city and said, "Sit down here." And they sat down.

2And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit ye down here. And they sat down.

NoteLegal acts were oral, not written. Elders, the senior heads of families in the town, served as the standing court, and their presence, together with the bystanders, is what made a transaction binding and remembered.

3He said to the relative, "Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is selling a piece of land that belonged to our relative Elimelech.

3And he said unto the kinsman, Naomi, that is come again out of the country of Moab, selleth a parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech’s:

NoteIn Israelite law, farmland belonged permanently to a family line rather than to an individual, so land could not simply be sold off. If poverty forced a family to give up its land, the nearest male relative was expected to buy it back and keep it within the clan; a relative acting in that role is called a redeemer (Hebrew go'el). "Our relative Elimelech" translates a word meaning kinsman broadly, not a literal brother.

4I thought I should tell you about it and say: buy it in front of the people who live here and in front of the elders of my people. If you will buy it back, buy it back. But if you will not buy it back, tell me, so I know, because there is no one but you to buy it back, and I come after you." And the man said, "I will buy it back."

4And I thought to advertise thee, saying, Buy it before the inhabitants, and before the elders of my people. If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it: but if thou wilt not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know: for there is none to redeem it beside thee; and I am after thee. And he said, I will redeem it.

Note"I come after you" refers to the fixed order of kinship: the duty to redeem fell first on the closest relative, and only passed to the next in line if the closer one declined.

5Then Boaz said, "On the day you buy the field from Naomi's hand, you must also buy it from Ruth the Moabite woman, the widow of the dead man, to raise up the dead man's name over the land he left behind."

5Then said Boaz, What day thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance.

NoteAlongside redeeming land, custom required a close relative to marry the widow of a man who died childless. The first son of that marriage counted legally as the dead man's son and inherited his land, so the dead man's "name", his line and his claim on the family property, continued. The Hebrew of this verse is disputed: it can mean that the buyer must also acquire the land from Ruth, or that in buying the land he also acquires Ruth as a wife.

6The relative said, "Then I cannot buy it back for myself, or I would ruin my own inheritance. You take my right to buy it back, because I cannot do it."

6And the kinsman said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar mine own inheritance: redeem thou my right to thyself; for I cannot redeem it.

NoteThe problem is financial. He would pay for the land himself, but any son born to Ruth would inherit it as Mahlon's heir rather than as his own, so the money would leave his estate permanently and shrink what he could pass to his own children.

7Now this was the custom in earlier times in Israel about buying back and about trading, to make everything settled: a man pulled off his shoe and gave it to the other man. This was the proof of an agreement in Israel.

7Now this was the manner in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing, for to confirm all things; a man plucked off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbour: and this was a testimony in Israel.

NoteThe narrator is explaining a custom already out of date by the time the book was written, which is why the verse pauses to describe it. Handing over a sandal seems to have signaled handing over the right to walk on and possess the land; it worked the way a signature does now.

8So the relative said to Boaz, "Buy it for yourself." And he pulled off his shoe.

8Therefore the kinsman said unto Boaz, Buy it for thee. So he drew off his shoe.

9Then Boaz said to the elders and to all the people, "You are witnesses today that I have bought from Naomi's hand everything that belonged to Elimelech, and everything that belonged to Chilion and Mahlon.

9And Boaz said unto the elders, and unto all the people, Ye are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s, and all that was Chilion’s and Mahlon’s, of the hand of Naomi.

NoteChilion and Mahlon were Naomi's two sons, who died in Moab; Mahlon had been Ruth's husband. Boaz is buying the whole estate of the dead family, not one field.

10And I have also bought Ruth the Moabite woman, Mahlon's widow, to be my wife, to raise up the dead man's name over the land he left behind, so that his name will not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his town. You are witnesses today."

10Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of his place: ye are witnesses this day.

NoteA man's "name" here means his line and his recorded standing among the townsmen who met at the gate; if no heir held his land, that standing disappeared from the community's reckoning. Ruth is again labeled a Moabite (from Moab, a neighboring nation east of the Dead Sea with a long history of hostility toward Israel) which makes the legal declaration public about exactly whom Boaz is marrying.

11All the people who were at the gate, and the elders, said, "We are witnesses. May the LORD make the woman who is coming into your house like Rachel and like Leah, the two who built up the house of Israel. And may you do well in Ephratah and be famous in Bethlehem.

11And all the people that were in the gate, and the elders, said, We are witnesses. The LORD make the woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel: and do thou worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem:

NoteRachel and Leah were the two wives of Jacob, and the twelve tribes of Israel descended from them and their servants; to be like them is to be the mother of a whole people. Ephratah is the older name for Bethlehem and its surrounding clan territory. The Hebrew phrase rendered "do well" can mean either grow wealthy or act honorably.

12And may your family be like the family of Pharez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, through the children the LORD will give you by this young woman."

12And let thy house be like the house of Pharez, whom Tamar bare unto Judah, of the seed which the LORD shall give thee of this young woman.

NoteThe reference is to Genesis 38. Tamar was widowed and left without children when Judah failed to give her his surviving son as the custom required, so she obtained a child by Judah himself; that child was Perez, ancestor of the Bethlehem families. The crowd is naming the closest earlier case of a childless widow gaining an heir through a relative.

13So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. He slept with her, and the LORD let her become pregnant, and she gave birth to a son.

13So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife: and when he went in unto her, the LORD gave her conception, and she bare a son.

14The women said to Naomi, "Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you today without a relative to redeem you. May his name be famous in Israel.

14And the women said unto Naomi, Blessed be the LORD, which hath not left thee this day without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel.

NoteThe relative-redeemer the women mean is the newborn child, who now stands as the family member obliged to protect Naomi. "His name" is ambiguous in the Hebrew and may refer to the child or to the LORD.

15He will bring your life back to you and take care of you in your old age, because your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given birth to him."

15And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life, and a nourisher of thine old age: for thy daughter in law, which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons, hath born him.

NoteSeven was the round number for a complete family, and sons were a widow's only real security in old age. Saying Ruth is worth more than seven sons is the strongest praise available.

16Naomi took the child, held him against her chest, and took care of him.

16And Naomi took the child, and laid it in her bosom, and became nurse unto it.

NotePlacing the child on the lap was a recognized gesture of claiming a child as one's own. The word translated "nurse" means a guardian or foster-parent who raises a child, not a woman who breast-feeds; Naomi is too old for that.

17The women who were her neighbors gave him a name. They said, "A son has been born to Naomi," and they called him Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

17And the women her neighbours gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

NoteNaming was normally the parents' act, so the neighbors naming the child is unusual and marks him as the whole town's concern. The name Obed means roughly "one who serves" or "servant."

18Now this is the family line of Pharez: Pharez was the father of Hezron,

18Now these are the generations of Pharez: Pharez begat Hezron,

NoteGenealogies like this one give a family's legal pedigree rather than a complete list of ancestors, and such lists were often shortened to a set number of names, here ten, from Perez to David. Its purpose is to show where the line running through Boaz ends up.

19Hezron was the father of Ram, and Ram was the father of Amminadab,

19And Hezron begat Ram, and Ram begat Amminadab,

20Amminadab was the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon was the father of Salmon,

20And Amminadab begat Nahshon, and Nahshon begat Salmon,

NoteNahshon appears in Exodus and Numbers as the head of the tribe of Judah during the years in the wilderness, which anchors this list to a known point in Israel's past.

21Salmon was the father of Boaz, and Boaz was the father of Obed,

21And Salmon begat Boaz, and Boaz begat Obed,

22Obed was the father of Jesse, and Jesse was the father of David.

22And Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David.

NoteDavid became Israel's second and most celebrated king. Ending the list with him is the point of the whole book: the foreign widow of chapter one turns out to be his great-grandmother.