Ruth 4:1–8

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.