Chapter 4

¹Now 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, Ho, such a one! turn aside, sit down here. He turned aside, and sat down. ²He took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit you down here. They sat down. ³He said to the near kinsman, Naomi, who has come back out of 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 said Boaz, What day you buy the field of the hand of Naomi, you must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance. ⁶The near kinsman said, I can’t redeem it for myself, lest I mar my own inheritance: take my right of redemption on you; for I can’t 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 neighbor; 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, of the hand of Naomi. ¹⁰Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I 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. Yahweh make the woman who has come into your house like Rachel and like Leah, which two built the house of Israel: and do you worthily in Ephrathah, and be famous in Bethlehem: ¹²and let your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, of the seed which Yahweh shall give you of this young woman. ¹³So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife; and he went in to her, and Yahweh gave her conception, and she bore a son. ¹⁴The women said to Naomi, Blessed be 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 it in her bosom, and became nurse to it. ¹⁷The women her neighbors gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi; and they named him Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David. 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 David.