4
Boaz married Ruth
1 Later that morning, Boaz sat down in the meeting place near the town gate, and waited for his close relation to walk past. This was the man that Boaz had told Ruth about. He was the man who should look after her.
When Boaz saw his relation, he called out to him and said, “Can you come and sit down with me? I want to talk to you.”
The man walked over to Boaz and sat down.
2 Then Boaz asked 10 of the town elders to have a meeting with him and his relation.
3 They all sat down and Boaz said to the man, “Elim-elek's (Elimelech's)s wife Naomi, has come back from Mo-ab. Naomi wants to sell the land that belonged to our relation, Elim-elek.
4 And so I thought I would tell you. You are the closest relation for Elim-elek and you are the right person to buy that land. If you want to buy the land, you can do that here in front of all these elders right now. They will be witnesses that you own that land. But, if you do not want to buy the land, tell me, and I will buy it. You know that I am the next one in line.”
The close relation said, “Yes I will buy that land from Naomi.”
5 Then Boaz said, “That is good, but you have to remember that when you buy the land, you have to marry Ruth, the woman from Mo-ab. She was married to Mah-lon, Elim-elek's son who passed away. That way she can have children to carry on Elim-elek's family line and the land will still belong to them.”
6 The other man said, “If that is what has to happen, I cannot buy that land. If I buy Elim-elek's land, it will still belong to Elim-elek's family and my own children will miss out. No, I will not buy that land. You are free to buy it.”
7 In those days, the Israelite people had a way of showing that someone was the new owner of some land. The person selling that land took off their shoe and gave it to the person buying the land. They did this in front of witnesses to show that the deal was finished and legal in Israel.
8 So the close relation took off his shoe and gave it to Boaz. He said to Boaz, “Here, you can buy that land.”
9 Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people standing there, “You are witnesses for me today. I am buying from Naomi everything that belonged to her husband Elim-elek and her 2 sons, Kill-e-on (Kilion) and Mah-lon.
10 And I am going to marry Ruth, the woman from Mo-ab who was married to Mah-lon. I am doing this so that Elim-elek's land will stay in his family and Ruth's children will carry on his family name. That way, his relations and the people from his hometown will not forget Elim-elek. You are all witnesses to what I have said here today.”
11 All the elders and people at the meeting said to Boaz, “Yes, we are your witnesses. This is our prayer for you and Ruth as you get married and live together. We ask the Lord to give Ruth a lot of children like Rachel and Leah, our grandmothers from a long time ago. They had a lot of children with Jacob, and from those children the nation of Israel got really big.
Boaz, we ask the Lord to give you a good life here with the Ef-rath (Ephrath) clan. We ask the Lord to make you an important man here in Bethlehem so that everyone respects you.
12 Remember your grandfather Perez from a long time ago. He was Tamar and Judah's son. We ask the Lord to give you and your wife a family like Perez had.”
13 So Boaz took Ruth home to be his wife. He slept with her and the Lord gave her a baby boy.
14 The women in Bethlehem said to Naomi, “Thank you Lord! Naomi, the Lord has given you a grandson to carry on your family line. We ask the Lord to make a way for everyone in Israel to know him and respect him.
15 Your daughter-in-law Ruth loves you so much. She has done more to help you than if you had 7 sons to look after you. Now, she has given you a grandson. This little boy will make you feel young again and later on he will look after you.”
16 Naomi held the baby close to her and she loved him like he was her own baby.
17 The women that lived near to Naomi said, “Naomi has another son,” and they named him Obed. When Obed grew up he had a son named Jesse and later on again, Jesse had a son named David.
18 This is the family line for Perez who was the grandfather from a long time ago for Boaz.
Perez was the father of Hezron,
19 Hezron was the father of Ram,
Ram was the father of A-min-a-dab,
20 A-min-a-dab was the father of Nah-shon,
Nah-shon was the father of Salmon,
21 Salmon was the father of Boaz,
Boaz was the father of Obed,
22 Obed was the father of Jesse,
and Jesse was the father of David. David was a king of Israel.