Ruth 4:1–13

Boaz Redeems Ruth

4Now Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there; and behold, ^athe close relative of whom Boaz had spoken came by. So Boaz said, “Come aside, ¹friend, sit down here.” So he came aside and sat down. ²And he took ten men of ^bthe elders of the city, and said, “Sit down here.” So they sat down. ³Then he said to the close relative, “Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, sold the piece of land ^cwhich belonged to our brother Elimelech. ⁴And I thought to ²inform you, saying, ^d‘Buy it back ^ein the presence of the inhabitants and the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it; but if ³you will not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know; ^ffor there is no one but you to redeem it, and I am next after you.’ ”

And he said, “I will redeem it.”

⁵Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must also buy it from Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, ^gto ⁴perpetuate the name of the dead through his inheritance.”

^6hAnd the close relative said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I ruin my own inheritance. You redeem my right of redemption for yourself, for I cannot redeem it.”

⁷ⁱNow this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging, to confirm anything: one man took off his sandal and gave it to the other, and this was a confirmation in Israel.

⁸Therefore the close relative said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself.” So he took off his sandal. ⁹And Boaz said to the elders and 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, from the hand of Naomi. ¹⁰Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Mahlon, I have acquired as my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead through his inheritance, ^jthat the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brethren and from ⁵his position at the gate. You are witnesses this day.”

¹¹And all the people who were at the gate, and the elders, said, “We are witnesses. ^kThe Lord make the woman who is coming to your house like Rachel and Leah, the two who ^lbuilt the house of Israel; and may you prosper in ^mEphrathah and be famous in ⁿBethlehem. ¹²May your house be like the house of ^oPerez, ^pwhom Tamar bore to Judah, because of ^qthe offspring which the Lord will give you from this young woman.”

Descendants of Boaz and Ruth

¹³So Boaz ^rtook Ruth and she became his wife; and when he went in to her, ^sthe Lord gave her conception, and she bore a son.