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Rute 4

ARC · Chapter 4/4

1E Boaz subiu á porta, e assentou-se ali: e eis que o remidor de que Boaz tinha fallado ia passando, e disse-lhe: Ó fulano, desvia-te para cá, assenta-te aqui. E desviou-se para ali, e assentou-se.

2Então tomou dez homens dos anciãos da cidade, e disse: Assentae-vos aqui. E assentaram-se.

3Então disse ao remidor: Aquella parte da terra que foi de Elimelech, nosso irmão, Noemi, que tornou da terra dos moabitas, a vendeu.

4E disse eu: Manifestal-o-hei em teus ouvidos, dizendo: Toma-a diante dos habitantes, e diante dos anciãos do meu povo; se a has de redimir, redime-a, e, se não se houver de redimir, declara-m'o, para que o saiba, pois outro não ha senão tu que a redima, e eu depois de ti. Então disse elle: Eu a redimirei.

5Disse porém Boaz: No dia em que tomares a terra da mão de Noemi, tambem a tomarás da mão de Ruth, a moabita, mulher do defunto, para suscitar o nome do defunto sobre a sua herdade.

6Então disse o remidor: Para mim não a poderei redimir, para que não damne a minha herdade: redime tu a minha remissão para ti, porque eu não a poderei redimir.

7Havia, pois, já de muito tempo este costume em Israel, emquanto a remissão e contracto, para confirmar todo o negocio, que o homem descalçava o sapato e o dava ao seu proximo: e isto era por testemunho em Israel.

8Disse pois o remidor a Boaz: Toma-a para ti. E descalçou o sapato.

9Então Boaz disse aos anciãos e a todo o povo: Sois hoje testemunhas de que tomei tudo quanto foi d'Elimelech, e de Chilion, e de Mahlon, da mão de Noemi,

10E de que tambem tomo por mulher a Ruth, a moabita, que foi mulher de Mahlon, para suscitar o nome do defunto sobre a sua herdade, para que o nome do defunto não seja desarraigado d'entre seus irmãos e da porta do seu logar: d'isto sois hoje testemunhas.

11E todo o povo que estava na porta, e os anciãos, disseram: Somos testemunhas: o Senhor faça a esta mulher, que entra na tua casa, como a Rachel e como a Leah, que ambas edificaram a casa d'Israel; e ha-te já valorosamente em Ephrata, e faze-te nome afamado em Beth-lehem.

12E seja a tua casa como a casa de Perez (que Tamar pariu a Judah), da semente que o Senhor te der d'esta moça.

13Assim tomou Boaz a Ruth, e ella lhe foi por mulher; e elle entrou a ella, e o Senhor lhe deu conceição, e pariu um filho.

14Então as mulheres disseram a Noemi: Bemdito seja o Senhor, que não deixou hoje de te dar remidor, e seja o seu nome afamado em Israel.

15Elle te será por recreador da alma, e conservará a tua velhice, pois tua nora, que te ama, o pariu, e ella te é melhor do que sete filhos.

16E Noemi tomou o filho, e o poz no seu regaço, e foi sua ama.

17E as visinhas lhe deram um nome, dizendo: A Noemi nasceu um filho. E chamaram o seu nome Obed. Este é o pae de Jessé, pae de David.

18Estas são pois as gerações de Perez: Perez gerou a Esrom,

19E Esrom gerou a Arão, e Arão gerou a Amminadab,

20E Amminadab gerou a Nahasson, e Nahasson gerou a Salmon,

21E Salmon gerou a Boaz, e Boaz gerou a Obed,

22E Obed gerou a Jessé, e Jessé gerou a David.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Boaz formally settles the matter of redemption before the elders at the city gate, marrying Ruth after the closer relative declines the right. Ruth and Boaz have a son, Obed, grandfather of David.

Explanation

The scene at the city gate, where legal business and disputes were settled publicly before witnesses, shows Israel's communal legal system functioning with transparency — ten elders formally witness the transaction. The custom of removing a sandal to seal an agreement (v.7-8) was a symbolic gesture of transferring rights, whose exact origin even the Israelites of the time the book was written already regarded as an ancient custom. The end of the book reveals Ruth's genealogy as great-grandmother of King David, transforming this personal story of loyalty and providence into an essential part of Israel's royal line — and, according to the New Testament, also the line of Jesus Christ.

Fun facts

  • The book's closing genealogy (Perez-Salmon-Boaz-Obed-Jesse-David) is repeated almost identically in Matthew 1:3-6, confirming Ruth, the Moabite, as one of the four women explicitly mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus.
  • The elders' blessing comparing Ruth to Rachel and Leah, 'which two did build the house of Israel' (v.11), is remarkable because it publicly recognizes a foreign woman as worthy of comparison with the nation's founding matriarchs.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Rute 4:1Boaz sits down at the city gate, the place where legal business and judgments took place in public, and gathers ten elders as formal witnesses before dealing with the right of redemption in front of the closer relative.
  2. Rute 4:2Boaz gathers ten elders of the city to serve as official witnesses to the negotiation about to take place.
  3. Rute 4:3Boaz explains to the closer relative that Naomi is selling a piece of land that belonged to Elimelech.
  4. Rute 4:4Boaz offers him the first option to redeem that land, since he is the closer relative; only if he refuses would Boaz take on that role. The relative agrees at first.
  5. Rute 4:5Boaz clarifies an important condition: along with the land, whoever redeems it must also marry Ruth, to keep her dead husband’s line alive.
  6. Rute 4:6The closer relative gives up his right to redeem the land when he learns that the deal also includes marrying Ruth and raising up an heir in the name of her dead husband, something that would divide his own inheritance among more children, and so he backs out.
  7. Rute 4:7Taking off one’s sandal and handing it to the other party was the custom used in Israel to publicly seal a transfer of the right of redemption. It worked as a visible signature before witnesses, at a time when few formal documents existed.
  8. Rute 4:8Learning of this condition, the relative withdraws and formalizes his withdrawal by taking off his own sandal, according to the custom.
  9. Rute 4:9Boaz declares publicly, before the elders and the people, that he is taking on everything that belonged to Elimelech and his sons.
  10. Rute 4:10In marrying Ruth, Boaz explains that the goal is to keep the dead man’s name alive over his inheritance. The heir who is born will be legally counted as a continuation of the line of Mahlon, Ruth’s dead husband, not as Boaz’s son for purposes of inheritance.
  11. Rute 4:11The people and the elders confirm their role as witnesses and wish blessings on Ruth, comparing her to the matriarchs Rachel and Leah, founders of the people of Israel.
  12. Rute 4:12They also wish that Boaz’s offspring would be as numerous as that of Pharez, son of Judah and Tamar — another story of family continuity through unusual circumstances.
  13. Rute 4:13Boaz marries Ruth, and the Lord enables her to conceive and give birth to a son.
  14. Rute 4:14The women of the town celebrate with Naomi, thanking God for not leaving her without a redeemer, and wish fame for this newborn child.
  15. Rute 4:15They point out that this grandson will renew Naomi’s life and care for her in old age, praising Ruth as a daughter-in-law more valuable than seven sons — an enormous compliment by the standards of the time.
  16. Rute 4:16Naomi takes the child into her lap and begins caring for him as if she were his own nurse.
  17. Rute 4:17The son of Ruth and Boaz is named Obed and becomes the grandfather of David. The book’s closing genealogy deliberately links a Moabite great-grandmother to the line of Israel’s greatest king, a detail the Gospels repeat centuries later in the genealogy of Jesus.
  18. Rute 4:18A genealogy begins here linking Ruth’s story to the royal line, starting from Pharez, son of Judah.
  19. Rute 4:19This is the line connecting Judah to David: Hezron and Ram are just two links along the way, in a list of ten generations that ends with King David himself.
  20. Rute 4:20Nahshon, in this same line, is the very man who led the tribe of Judah in the wilderness, in the time of Moses — a direct ancestor of David, five generations before him.
  21. Rute 4:21Salmon fathers Boaz, and Boaz fathers Obed — closing the circle of the very story told in the book.
  22. Rute 4:22The line ends with Obed fathering Jesse, and Jesse fathering David — revealing that Ruth, the Moabite foreigner, is the great-grandmother of Israel’s greatest king.

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