Now Boaz had gone up to the gate and sat down there. And behold,
the redeemer, of whom Boaz had spoken, came by. So Boaz said, “Turn
aside, friend; sit down here.” And he turned aside and sat down.
And he took ten men of the elders of the city and said, “Sit down
here.” So they sat down. Then he said to the redeemer, “Naomi, who
has come back from the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of
land that belonged to our relative Elimelech. So I thought I would
tell you of it 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, tell me, that I may
know, for there is no one besides you to redeem it, and I come
after you.” And he said, “I will redeem it.” Then Boaz said, “The
day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth
the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name
of the dead in his inheritance.” Then the redeemer said, “I cannot
redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own inheritance. Take my
right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it.”
Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning
redeeming and exchanging: to confirm a transaction, the one drew
off his sandal and gave it to the other, and this was the manner of
attesting in Israel. So when the redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it for
yourself,” he drew off his sandal. Then Boaz said to the elders and
all the people, “You are witnesses this day that I have bought from
the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that
belonged to Chilion and to Mahlon. Also Ruth the Moabite, the widow
of Mahlon, I have bought to be my wife, to perpetuate the name of
the dead in his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be
cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his native
place. You are witnesses this day.” Then all the people who were at
the gate and the elders said, “We are witnesses. May the LORD make
the woman, who is coming into your house, like Rachel and Leah, who
together built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in
Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethlehem, and may your house be like
the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the
offspring that the LORD will give you by this young woman.”
So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And he went in to
her, and the LORD gave her conception, and she bore a son. Then the
women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you
this day without a redeemer, and may his name be renowned in
Israel! He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of
your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more
to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.” Then Naomi took
the child and laid him on her lap and became his nurse. And the
women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, “A son has been
born to Naomi.” They named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse,
the father of David.
Now these are the generations of Perez: Perez fathered Hezron,
Hezron fathered Ram, Ram fathered Amminadab, Amminadab fathered
Nahshon, Nahshon fathered Salmon, Salmon fathered Boaz, Boaz
fathered Obed, Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered David.
