Boaz Marries Ruth

4 Meanwhile Boaz went up to the town gateq and sat down there just as the guardian-redeemera r he had mentioneds came along. Boaz said, “Come over here, my friend, and sit down.” So he went over and sat down.

2 Boaz took ten of the elderst of the town and said, “Sit here,” and they did so.u 3 Then he said to the guardian-redeemer, “Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our relative Elimelek.v 4 I thought I should bring the matter to your attention and suggest that you buy it in the presence of these seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, do so. But if youb will not, tell me, so I will know. For no one has the right to do it except you,w and I am next in line.”

“I will redeem it,” he said.

5 Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the land from Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite,x thec dead man’s widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property.”y

6 At this, the guardian-redeemer said, “Then I cannot redeemz it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it.”a

7 (Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemptionb and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandalc and gave it to the other. This was the method of legalizing transactionsd in Israel.)e

8 So the guardian-redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it yourself.” And he removed his sandal.f

9 Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, “Today you are witnessesg that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelek, Kilion and Mahlon. 10 I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite,h Mahlon’s widow, as my wife,i in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from his hometown.j Today you are witnesses!k”

11 Then the elders and all the people at the gatel said, “We are witnesses.m May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah,n who together built up the family of Israel. May you have standing in Ephrathaho and be famous in Bethlehem.p