Ruth 4

Meanwhile Boaz went up to the town gate and sat down there. And when the guardian-redeemer he'd mentioned came along, Boaz said, “Come over here, friend, and sit down.” So he went over and sat down.

And Boaz took ten of the elders of the town and said, “Sit here,” and they sat down.

Then he said to the guardian-redeemer, “Naomi, who's come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our relative Elimelek.

I thought I should bring it to your attention and say to you: buy it, in front of these men sitting here and in front of the elders of my people. If you'll redeem it, redeem it. But if you won't, tell me, so I know. There's nobody but you to redeem it, and I'm next after you.” “I'll redeem it,” he said.

Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the land from Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the dead man's widow, to keep the dead man's name on his property.”

At that the guardian-redeemer said, “Then I can't redeem it. I'd risk ruining my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I can't do it.”

Now in earlier times in Israel, this is how things were settled about redeeming and transferring property: one party took off his sandal and gave it to the other. That was how a deal was made legal in Israel.

So the guardian-redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it yourself,” and he took off his sandal.

And Boaz said to the elders and everyone there, “Today you're witnesses that I've bought from Naomi everything that belonged to Elimelek, Kilion and Mahlon.

And I've also acquired Ruth the Moabite, Mahlon's widow, as my wife, to keep the dead man's name on his property, so his name won't disappear from among his family or from the records of his town. Today you're witnesses.”

And the elders and everyone at the gate said, “We're witnesses. May the Lord make the woman coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who between them built up the house of Israel. May you do well in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem.

And through the children the Lord gives you by this young woman, may your family be like the family of Perez, whom Tamar had for Judah.”

So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. And he slept with her, and the Lord enabled her to fall pregnant, and she had a son.

And the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the Lord, who hasn't left you today without a guardian-redeemer. May his name be famous in Israel.

He'll bring you new life and look after you in your old age. Your daughter-in-law, who loves you and is better to you than seven sons, has had him.”

And Naomi took the child and held him in her arms and cared for him.

And the women living there said, “Naomi has a son.” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

This is the family line of Perez. Perez had Hezron,

Hezron had Ram, Ram had Amminadab,

Amminadab had Nahshon, Nahshon had Salmon,

Salmon had Boaz, Boaz had Obed,

Obed had Jesse, and Jesse had David.