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(In Israel this used to be the custom regarding the transfer of the right of redemption: To confirm every transfer, one man took off his sandal and gave it to the other party. This was the way of ratifying a transfer in Israel.)

So the redeemer said to Boaz, “Acquire it for yourself!” Then he took off his sandal.

Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses today that I have acquired from the hand of Naomi everything that belonged to Elimelek and everything that belonged to Kilion and Mahlon. 10 Furthermore, Ruth the Moabite, the wife of Mahlon, I have acquired for myself as a wife, in order to perpetuate the name of the deceased on his inheritance, so that the name of the deceased shall not be cut off from his brothers and from the city gate of his place. You are witnesses today.”

11 Then all the people and the elders who were in the gatehouse said, “We are witnesses! May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your household like Rachel and like Leah, the two women who built the house of Israel, so that you prosper in Ephrathah and become famous in Bethlehem. 12 May your house become like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, through the seed[a] whom the Lord will give to you from this young woman.”

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Footnotes

  1. Ruth 4:12 The literal term seed is retained here to emphasize the continuity of the promise of the Seed of the Woman from Eve through Ruth to Christ.

(Now this was the custom in former times[a] in Israel concerning the kinsman-redemption and transfer of property: to confirm the matter, a man removed his sandal and gave it to his fellow countryman. This was the manner of attesting in Israel.) So the redeemer said to Boaz, “Acquire it for yourself,” and he removed his sandal. And Boaz said to the elders and all of the people, “You are witnesses today that I have acquired all that was for Elimelech and that was for Kilion and Mahlon from the hand of Naomi. 10 And also Ruth the Moabite, the wife of Mahlon, I have acquired as a wife, to raise up the name of the dead over his inheritance, so that the name of the dead may not be cut off from his relatives and from the gate of his birth place. You are witnesses today.” 11 And all of the people who were at the gate and the elders said, “We are witnesses. May Yahweh make the woman coming into your house as Rachel and as Leah, who together[b] built the house of Israel. May you have strength in Ephrathah and bestow a name in Bethlehem. 12 And may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah from the offspring that Yahweh will give to you from this young woman.”

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Footnotes

  1. Ruth 4:7 Literally “before faces”
  2. Ruth 4:11 Literally “the two of them”