Ruth 4

Kinsman's Reluctance to Redeem Ruth 4:5–7

⁵Verse 5. Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must buy it also from Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance.” ⁶Verse 6. The near kinsman said, “I can’t redeem it for myself, lest I endanger my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption for yourself; for I can’t redeem it.” ⁷Verse 7. Now this was the custom in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning exchanging, to confirm all things: a man took off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbor; and this was the way of formalizing transactions in Israel.

Formalizing the Redemption Ruth 4:8–12

⁸Verse 8. So the near kinsman said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself,” then he took off his shoe. ⁹Verse 9. Boaz said to the elders, and to all the people, “You are witnesses today, that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s, and all that was Chilion’s and Mahlon’s, from the hand of Naomi. ¹⁰Verse 10. Moreover 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 may not be cut off from among his brothers, and from the gate of his place. You are witnesses today.”

¹¹Verse 11. All the people who were in the gate, and the elders, said, “We are witnesses. May Yahweh make the woman who has come into your house like Rachel and like Leah, which both built the house of Israel; and treat you worthily in Ephrathah, and be famous in Bethlehem. ¹²Verse 12. Let your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, of the offspring which Yahweh will give you by this young woman.”

Boaz Marries Ruth Ruth 4:13–17

¹³Verse 13. So 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. ¹⁴Verse 14. The women said to Naomi, “Blessed be Yahweh, who has not left you today without a near kinsman. Let his name be famous in Israel. ¹⁵Verse 15. He 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 given birth to him.” ¹⁶Verse 16. Naomi took the child, and laid him in her bosom, and became nurse to it.

¹⁷Verse 17. The women, her neighbors, gave him a name, saying, “A son is born to Naomi”. They named him Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

Genealogy of David Ruth 4:18–22

¹⁸Verse 18. Now this is the history of the generations of Perez: Perez became the father of Hezron, ¹⁹Verse 19. and Hezron became the father of Ram, and Ram became the father of Amminadab, ²⁰Verse 20. and Amminadab became the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon became the father of Salmon, ²¹Verse 21. and Salmon became the father of Boaz, and Boaz became the father of Obed, ²²Verse 22. and Obed became the father of Jesse, and Jesse became the father of David.