Ruth 4

Ruth 4 joins a public act of redemption to God’s provision for Naomi and the family line of David.

Boaz sits at the town gate and gathers ten elders to witness a decision about Elimelech’s land and Ruth’s future. The nearer kinsman declines redemption when he learns that the arrangement includes marrying Ruth to preserve the dead man’s name. Boaz accepts, and the people bless their marriage. YHWH grants Ruth a son, Obed, whose birth brings Naomi care and hope in old age. A closing genealogy traces the family line to David.

griefagingsermon or Bible study notes

Read

1Now Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there. Behold, the near kinsman of whom Boaz spoke came by. Boaz said to him, “Come over here, friend, and sit down!” He came over, and sat down.

2Boaz took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, “Sit down here,” and they sat down.

4I thought I should tell you, saying, ‘Buy it before those who sit here, and before the elders of my people.’ If you will redeem it, redeem it; but if you will not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know. For there is no one to redeem it besides you; and I am after you.” He said, “I will redeem it.”

5Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must buy it also from Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance.”

6The near kinsman said, “I can’t redeem it for myself, lest I endanger my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption for yourself; for I can’t redeem it.”

9Boaz said to the elders and to all the people, “You are witnesses today, that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s, and all that was Chilion’s and Mahlon’s, from the hand of Naomi.

10Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, I have purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his place. You are witnesses today.”

11All the people who were in the gate, and the elders, said, “We are witnesses. May the LORD make the woman who has come into your house like Rachel and like Leah, which both built the house of Israel; and treat you worthily in Ephrathah, and be famous in Bethlehem.

12Let your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, of the offspring which the LORD will give you by this young woman.”

13So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife; and he went in to her, and the LORD enabled her to conceive, and she bore a son.

14The women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you today without a near kinsman. Let his name be famous in Israel.

15He shall be to you a restorer of life and sustain you in your old age; for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.”

17The women, her neighbors, gave him a name, saying, “A son is born to Naomi”. They named him Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

18Now this is the history of the generations of Perez: Perez became the father of Hezron,

19and Hezron became the father of Ram, and Ram became the father of Amminadab,

20and Amminadab became the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon became the father of Salmon,

21and Salmon became the father of Boaz, and Boaz became the father of Obed,

22and Obed became the father of Jesse, and Jesse became the father of David.

World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.

Key verses

Ruth 4:1Boaz brings the matter to the town gate, where the nearer kinsman’s decision will be witnessed.

Ruth 4:11The witnesses bless Ruth through the memory of Rachel and Leah, placing her within Israel’s family story.

Ruth 4:18The genealogy begins with Perez and leads to David, showing how this household’s future reaches into Israel’s history.

Where this chapter reaches

The blessing recalls Genesis through Rachel and Leah, and through Tamar’s son Perez, linking Ruth’s marriage with the families from whom Israel grew. Matthew and Luke share names from the closing genealogy, placing Boaz, Obed, Jesse, and David within their accounts of Jesus’ ancestry.

Ruth 4's chapter linksAll strongest linksHover or tap a book

Notice

After reading the whole chapter

What do the witnesses’ blessings reveal about how they receive Ruth the Moabitess?

Write on this

How does the closing genealogy change your understanding of the events at the town gate?

Write on this

Questions people ask about Ruth 4

Why did the nearer kinsman refuse to redeem Ruth’s inheritance?

He first agrees to redeem the land. When Boaz explains that the transaction also involves Ruth and preserving her dead husband’s name, he withdraws because he fears endangering his own inheritance. The chapter does not explain the financial details or tell readers more about his motives.

Why was a sandal removed in Ruth 4?

The narrator explains that removing a sandal and giving it to another person was an earlier Israelite custom for confirming redemption or exchange. Here the nearer kinsman removes his sandal as he yields his redemption right to Boaz. The elders and other people then witness Boaz’s declaration.

Why do the women say a son is born to Naomi?

Ruth is Obed’s mother, as the account of his birth makes clear. The neighbors’ words celebrate what his birth means for Naomi’s household and old age. Naomi takes the child into her care, and the women describe him as one who will restore her life and sustain her.

Read it. Now write it.

Start an entry on Ruth 4. Your words go beside the text, and you get one next step for the week.

Start your entry on Ruth 4

Ruth · 4 chapters

1 2 3 4

What the Bible says about grief →

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).