Now Boaz went up to the gate, and sat him down there: and, behold, the near kinsman of whom Boaz spoke came by; to whom he said, “Hello, my friend! Come here and sit down. He came over and sat down.” 2Boaz took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, “Sit down here.” They sat down. 3He said to the near kinsman, “Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech’s: 4I thought to disclose it to you, saying, ‘Buy it before those who sit here, and before the elders of my people.’ If you will redeem it, redeem it: but if you will not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know; for there is none to redeem it besides you; and I am after you.”
He said, “I will redeem it.”
5Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must also buy it from Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance.”
6The near kinsman said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar my own inheritance: take my right of redemption for yourself; for I cannot redeem it.”
7Now this was the custom in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning exchanging, to confirm all things: a man drew off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbour; and this was the manner of attestation in Israel. 8So the near kinsman said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself.” He drew off his shoe.
9Boaz said to the elders, and to all the people, “You are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s, and all that was Chilion’s and Mahlon’s, from the hand of Naomi. 10Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, I have purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance, that the name of the dead not be cut off from among his brothers, and from the gate of his place. You are witnesses this day.”
11All the people who were in the gate, and the elders, said, “We are witnesses. May YAHWEH1 make the woman who has come into your house like Rachel and like Leah, who both built the house of Israel: and treat you worthily in Ephrathah, and be famous in Bethlehem. 12May your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, of the seed which YAHWEH shall give you by this young woman.”
13So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife; and he went in to her, and YAHWEH enabled her to conceive, and she bore a son. 14The women said to Naomi, “Praise be to YAHWEH, who has not left you this day without a near kinsman; and let his name be famous in Israel. 15He shall be to you a restorer of life, and sustain you in your old age, for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons, has borne him.”
16Naomi took the child, and laid him in her bosom, and she became nurse to him. 17The women her neighbours gave him a name, saying, “There is a son born to Naomi.” They named him Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of Dawud2. 18Now this is the history of the generations of Perez: Perez became the father of Hezron, 19and Hezron became the father of Ram, and Ram became the father of Amminadab, 20and Amminadab became the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon became the father of Salmon, 21and Salmon became the father of Boaz, and Boaz became the father of Obed, 22and Obed became the father of Jesse, and Jesse became the father of Dawud.
- 4:11 YAHWEH, God’s personal Name revealed to Prophet Musa in the Taurat, Exodus 3:15: ‘God said moreover to Musa, “You shall tell Bani-Israel this, ‘YAHWEH, the God of your fathers, the God of Ibrahim, the God of Ishaq, and the God of Yaqub, has sent me to you.’ This is my Name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered to all generations.”’ ↩︎
- 4:17 Dawud, this Arabic name is derived from David (Hebrew) and means “Beloved.” ↩︎