¹³ Stay this night, and in the morning it shall be that if he will ^(A)perform the duty of a close relative for you—good; let him do it. But if he does not want to perform the duty for you, then I will perform the duty for you, ^(B)as the Lord lives! Lie down until morning.”

⁵ Then 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, ^(A)to ^[a]perpetuate the name of the dead through his inheritance.”

²⁰ Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, ^(A)“Blessed be he of the Lord, who ^(B)has not forsaken His kindness to the living and the dead!” And Naomi said to her, “This man is a relation of ours, ^(C)one of ^[a]our close relatives.”

Marriage Duty of the Surviving Brother

^5 (A)“If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the widow of the dead man shall not be married to a stranger outside the family; her husband’s brother shall go in to her, take her as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. ⁶ And it shall be that the firstborn son which she bears ^(B)will succeed to the name of his dead brother, that ^(C)his name may not be blotted out of Israel. ⁷ But if the man does not want to take his brother’s wife, then let his brother’s wife go up to the ^(D)gate to the elders, and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to raise up a name to his brother in Israel; he will not perform the duty of my husband’s brother.’ ⁸ Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him. But if he stands firm and says, ^(E)‘I do not want to take her,’ ⁹ then his brother’s wife shall come to him in the presence of the elders, ^(F)remove his sandal from his foot, spit in his face, and answer and say, ‘So shall it be done to the man who will not ^(G)build up his brother’s house.’

¹⁶ For men indeed swear by the greater, and ^(A)an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute.

²⁴ saying: “Teacher, ^(A)Moses said that if a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother. ²⁵ Now there were with us seven brothers. The first died after he had married, and having no offspring, left his wife to his brother. ²⁶ Likewise the second also, and the third, even to the seventh. ²⁷ Last of all the woman died also.

¹⁹ Then he said, “They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. As the Lord lives, if you had let them live, I would not kill you.”

²³ Moreover ^(A)I call God as witness against my soul, ^(B)that to spare you I came no more to Corinth.