Ruth 4

Revised Geneva Translation

4 Then Boaz went up to the gate and sat there. And behold, the kinsman of whom Boaz had spoken came by. And he said, “Ho, such one! Come, sit down here.” And he turned and sat down.

² Then he took ten men from the elders of the city, and said, “Sit down here.” And they sat down.

³ And he said to the kinsman, “Naomi, who has returned from the country of Moab, wishes to sell a parcel of land which was our brother Elimelech’s.

⁴ “And I thought to tell you, saying, ‘Buy it’, before the inhabitants and before the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if you will not redeem it, tell me. For I know that there is no one besides you to redeem it. And I am after you.” Then he answered, “I will redeem it.”

⁵ Then Boaz said, “Whatever day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must also buy the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance.”

⁶ And the kinsman answered, “I cannot redeem it; lest I destroy my own inheritance. I give my right to you, for I cannot redeem it.”

⁷ Now this was the custom in ancient Israel concerning redeeming, changing and establishing all things: a man took off his shoe and gave it to his neighbor. And this was a sure witness in Israel.

⁸ Therefore, the kinsman said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself.” And he took off his shoe.

⁹ And Boaz said to the elders and to all the people, “You are witnesses today, that I have bought from Naomi all that was Elimelech’s and all that was Chilion’s and Mahlon’s.

¹⁰ “And moreover, I have bought Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, to be my wife, to stir up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, so that the name of the dead is not forgotten from among his brothers and from the gate of his place. You are witnesses today.”

¹¹ And all the people who were in the gate, and the elders, said, “We are witnesses. The LORD make the wife who comes into your house like Rachel and like Leah, who between them built the house of Israel. So that you may do worthily in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem,

¹² “and that your house be like the house of Perez (whom Tamar bore to Judah from the seed which the LORD shall give you from this young woman).”

¹³ So Boaz took Ruth; and she was his wife. And when he went into her, the LORD gave, so that she conceived and bore a son.

¹⁴ And the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the LORD, Who has not left you without a kinsman today. And His name shall be continued in Israel.

¹⁵ And this shall restore your life and nourish your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you, has borne him. And she is better to you than seven sons.”

¹⁶ And Naomi took the child and laid it in her lap and became nurse to it.

¹⁷ And the women, her neighbors, gave it a name, saying, “There is a child born to Naomi.” And they called his name “Obed”. The same was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

¹⁸ These now are the generations of Perez: Perez begat Hezron,

¹⁹ and Hezron begat Ram, and Ram begat Amminadab,

²⁰ and Amminadab begat Nahshon, and Nahshon begat Salmon,

²¹ and Salmon begat Boaz, and Boaz begat Obed,

²² and Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David.