Ruth 4

Boaz buys back the lost possession and marries Ruth

Then Boaz went out to the gate and seated himself there, and when the kinsman of whom Boaz had spoken came by Boaz said to him, “Come, friend, turn aside, sit down here”. And he turned aside and sat down.

2 And he brought ten of the elders of the city and said, “Sit down here”. And they sat down.

4:2 This was a public transaction of official business.⚜

3 And he said to the kinsman, “Naomi, who has returned from the country of Moab, is selling a plot of land which belonged to our brother Elimelech. 4 And I thought to inform you and say, Buy it in the presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if you will not redeem it, then tell me, so that I may know. For there is no one besides you to redeem it, and I am after you”. And he said, “I will redeem it”.

5 Then Boaz said, “On the day that you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must also buy it from Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead man, to raise up the name of the deceased on his inheritance”. 6 And the kinsman said, “I cannot redeem it for myself. If I did I would put my own inheritance at risk. You redeem my right for yourself, for I cannot redeem it”.

7 Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging land: to confirm anything a man took off his sandal and gave it to the one next to him. And this was a testimony in Israel.

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

9 And Boaz said to the elders and to all the people, “You are witnesses this day that I have bought from the hand of Naomi everything that belonged to Elimelech, and everything that belonged to Chilion and Mahlon. 10 Moreover, I have acquired Ruth the Moabitess, the former wife of Mahlon, to be my wife to raise up the name of the deceased on his inheritance, so that the name of the deceased is not cut off from among his brethren and from the gate of his place. You are witnesses this day”.

11 And all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, “We are witnesses. May the LORD make the woman who will come into your house like Rachel and like Leah, the two who built the house of Israel. And may you be mighty in Ephratah and famous in Bethlehem, 12 and may your house be like the house of Pharez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, through the offspring which the LORD gives you by this young woman”.

Ruth becomes the ancestress of King David

13 So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. And when he went in to her, the LORD enabled her to conceive, and she bore a son. 14 And the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the LORD who has not left you this day without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel. 15 And may he renew you in your life and sustain you in your old age, for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth”.

4:15 To say that Ruth was better to Naomi than seven sons was to give Ruth the highest praise.⚜

16 And Naomi took the child and laid it in her bosom and became its nurse. 17 And the neighbour women gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi”. And they called his name Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

18 Now these are the generations of Pharez: Pharez begot Hezron, 19 and Hezron begot Ram, and Ram begot Amminadab, 20 and Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon, 21 and Salmon begot Boaz, and Boaz begot Obed,

4:18-21 Matt 1:3-6. Because of her kindness to her mother-in-law and her faith in the God of Israel, this foreign widow became one of the ancestors, not only of King David, but of the Lord Jesus. Such is God’s great grace.⚜

22 and Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David.