1 Now 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.

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

3 He said to the near kinsman, “Naomi,
who has come back out of the country of
Moab, is selling the parcel of land, which
was our brother Elimelech’s.

4 I 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.”

5 Then 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 ofthe dead,to raiseup thename ofthe
dead on his inheritance.”

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

7 Now this was the custominformer time
in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning exchanging, to confirm all things:
a man took off his sandal, and gave it to his
neighbor; and this was the way of formalizing transactions in Israel.

8 So the near kinsman said to Boaz, “Buy
it for yourself,” then he took off his sandal.

9 Boaz 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.

10 Moreover, 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
maynotbe cut off fromamonghisbrothers
and from the gate of his place. You are
witnesses today.”