4
1 Now
Boaz went up
to the gate
and sat down
there. Behold, the
near kinsman
of whom Boaz spoke
came by. Boaz
said to him, “Come
over here, friend,
and sit down!”
He came over,
and sat down.
2 Boaz took
ten men of
the elders of
the city, and said,
“Sit down here,”
and they sat
down.
3 He 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.
4 I
thought I should
tell 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 no one
to redeem it
besides you; and
I am after you.”
He said, “I will
redeem it.”
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.”
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.”
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
sandal, and gave
it to his
neighbor; and this
was the way
of formalizing transactions in
Israel.
8 So
the near kinsman said
to Boaz, “Buy
it for yourself,” then he took
off his sandal.
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.
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.”
11 All
the people who
were in the
gate, and the
elders, said, “We
are witnesses. May
the LORD 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.
12 Let
your house be
like the house
of Perez, whom
Tamar bore to
Judah, of the
offspring
which the LORD
will give you
by this young
woman.”
13 So
Boaz took Ruth
and she became
his wife; and he
went in to
her, and the
LORD enabled her
to conceive,
and she bore a
son.
14 The women
said to Naomi, “Blessed
be the LORD,
who has not
left you today
without a near
kinsman. Let his
name be famous
in Israel.
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.”
16 Naomi
took the child,
laid him in
her bosom, and
became nurse to
him.
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.
18 Now this is
the history of
the generations of
Perez: Perez
became the father
of Hezron,
19 and
Hezron became the
father of Ram,
and Ram became
the father of
Amminadab,
20 and
Amminadab became
the father of
Nahshon, and
Nahshon became the
father of Salmon,
21 and
Salmon became the
father of Boaz,
and Boaz became
the father of
Obed,
22 and
Obed became the
father of Jesse,
and Jesse became
the father of
David.