Ruth
Chapter 4
1 Boaz went to the town gate and sat down. Then the relative he had mentioned came by. Boaz called, “Come over here and sit down.” So he came over and sat down.
2 He took ten city elders and said, “Sit down here.” And they sat down.
3 He told the relative, “Naomi, who has returned from Moab, is selling a piece of land that belonged to our brother Elimelech.”
4 I planned to tell you, ‘Buy it in front of the locals and the elders of our people. If you will buy it back, do it. But if you won’t, let me know, so I can know, because there’s no one else to buy it back except you, and I’m next after you.’ And he said, ‘I’ll buy it back.’
5 Then Boaz said, “When you buy the field from Naomi, you must also buy it from Ruth the Moabite, the widow, to continue the name of the deceased on his property.”
6 The relative said, “I can’t buy it for myself without harming my own inheritance. Take over my right to buy it, because I can’t do it.”
7 In the past in Israel, when someone needed to confirm a deal about buying back or trading property, that person would take off his shoe and give it to the other person. This was how they showed the agreement was official in Israel.
8 So the relative said to Boaz, “Buy it yourself.” And he took off his shoe.
9 Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses today that I have bought everything that belonged to Elimelech, and everything that belonged to Chilion and Mahlon, from Naomi.”
10 Also, I have bought Ruth the Moabite, Mahlon’s widow, to be my wife. This is to keep the dead man’s name alive with his property so that his name won’t disappear among his family or from his hometown. You are all witnesses today.
11 All the people and the elders at the gate said, “We are witnesses. May God make this woman coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built the family of Israel. May you prosper in Ephratah and be well-known in Bethlehem.”
12 May your family be like the family of Pharez, whom Tamar had with Judah, from the children that God will give you with this young woman.
13 So Boaz married Ruth, and she became his wife. When he was intimate with her, God allowed her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son.
14 The women said to Naomi, “Praise God, who has given you a relative today to make his name known in Israel.”
15 He will restore your life and care for you in your old age, because your daughter-in-law, who loves you and is more precious to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.
16 Naomi held the baby close to her and cared for it like a nurse.
17 The women living nearby named the baby, saying, “Naomi has a son;” and they named him Obed. Obed became the father of Jesse, who was David’s father.
18 These are the descendants of Perez: Perez was the father of Hezron.
19 Hezron had a son named Ram, and Ram had a son named Amminadab.
20 Amminadab had Nahshon, and Nahshon had Salmon.
21 Salmon was the father of Boaz, and Boaz was the father of Obed.
22 Obed had Jesse, and Jesse had David.