⁶ and the firstborn whom she bears shall succeed to the name of the deceased brother, so that his name may not be blotted out of Israel.^(A)

¹⁹ then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his town at the gate of that place.

¹⁰ I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, the wife of Mahlon, to be my wife, to maintain the dead man’s name on his inheritance, in order that the name of the dead may not be cut off from his kindred and from the gate of his native place; today you are witnesses.”^{(A) 11} Then all the people who were at the gate, along with 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 produce children^[a] in Ephrathah and bestow a name in Bethlehem;^{(B) 12} and, through the children that the Lord will give you by this young woman, may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah.”^(C)

The Marriage of Boaz and Ruth

4 No sooner had Boaz gone up to the gate and sat down there than the next-of-kin^[a] of whom Boaz had spoken came passing by. So Boaz said, “Come over;^[b] sit down here.” And he went over and sat down.^{(A) 2} Then Boaz took ten men of the elders of the town and said, “Sit down here,” so they sat down. ³ He then said to the next-of-kin,^[c] “Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of land that belonged to our kinsman Elimelech.^{(B) 4} 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^[d] will not, tell me, so that I may know; for there is no one prior to you to redeem it, and I come after you.” So he said, “I will redeem it.”^{(C) 5} Then Boaz said, “The day you acquire the field from the hand of Naomi, you are also acquiring Ruth^[e] the Moabite, the widow of the dead man, to maintain the dead man’s name on his inheritance.”^{(D) 6} At this, the next-of-kin^[f] said, “I cannot redeem it for myself without damaging my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it.”^(E)

⁷ Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging to confirm a transaction: the one took off a sandal and gave it to the other; this was the manner of attesting in Israel.^(F)

²⁰ the Lord will be unwilling to pardon them, for then the Lord’s anger and passion will smoke against them. All the curses written in this book will descend on them, and the Lord will blot out their names from under heaven.^(A)

¹⁴ Let me alone that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven, and I will make of you a nation mightier and more numerous than they.’^(A)

⁸ So when Esau saw that the Canaanite women did not please his father Isaac,^{(A) 9} Esau went to Ishmael and took Mahalath daughter of Abraham’s son Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth to be his wife in addition to the wives he had.^(B)

Jacob’s Dream at Bethel

¹⁰ Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran.