Ruth 4

Ruth 4 The Book of Ruth

1:1-22, Death and Emptiness
●
1-7, End of a family line in Moab
●
8-19a, Dialog on the Road
Overview ●
19b-22, Naomi and townswomen (gate)

In Ruth 4, Boaz goes to the city gate, where city business was 2:1-23, Seeking Short-Term Security
●
1, Introducing Boaz
transacted. While the word “gate” does not appear before this ●
2, Home: Naomi accepts Ruth’s Plan
point in Ruth, it would have been where Naomi first ●
3-17, Field: Ruth meets Boaz
●
18-23, Home: Naomi and Ruth debrief
encountered her old friends in Ruth 1. The allusion to the
gate, Naomi’s dialog with the women of the town, and the 3:1-18, Seeking Permanent Security
●
1-5, Home: Ruth accepts Naomi’s Plan
details on the end of one family and the beginning of another ●
6-15, Threshing Floor: Ruth and Boaz
make this chapter a fitting conclusion to the events that began ●
16-18, Home: Naomi and Ruth debrief
in chapter 1 (Figure 1). 4:1-22, Redemption and Fullness
●
1-12, Gate: Boaz and elders
●
13-17, Home: Naomi and townswomen
1-12, Boaz and the Elders ●
18-22, Beginning of royal line in Israel

1 Then went Boaz up to the gate, and sat him down there: Figure 1: Lau's Analysis of Ruth
—The gate was important for two reasons. First, everyone (modified)
had to pass through it on their way to the fields in the morning, or on their way home in the
evening, so it was a good place to wait for a desired person. Second, it was the usual place for
the elders to conduct city business. Here criminals were brought for trial (chart):
Deu 21:18 If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his
father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken
unto them: 19 Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto
the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; 20 And they shall say unto the elders of
his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton,
and a drunkard. 21 And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so
shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.
It was where a groom complained about deception in a marriage contract:
Deu 22:15 Then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the
tokens of the damsel's virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate:
After David mourned for Absalom, it is where he resumed his royal duties:
2Sa 19:8 Then the king arose, and sat in the gate. And they told unto all the people, saying,
Behold, the king doth sit in the gate. And all the people came before the king: for Israel had
fled every man to his tent.
It is where commercial disagreements were settled:
Pro 22:22 Rob not the poor, because he is poor: neither oppress the afflicted in the gate: 23
For the LORD will plead their cause, and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them.
Generally, it is where justice was administered:
Amo 5:15 Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that
the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.
The gate was attractive for such purposes for at least two reasons: it offered protection from the
sun, and everyone had to go through it to enter or leave the city. A typical city gate consisted of

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 Ruth 4

multiple doors, one

after another, with
space between them
where defenders
could lie in wait. An
enemy who breached
the first door would
be facing defenders,
and another door to
attack.
Archaeological
remains from the OT
period at numerous
sites, including
Shechem, Hatzor,
BeerSheba, and
Megiddo (Figure 2,
chart), show this
structure. The Figure 2: Gatehouse foundations. From upper-left clockwise: Shechem,
remaining Hatzor, Megiddo, BeerSheba. Note bench in the BeerSheba gate. Photos
foundations show the by Van and Anita Parunak, 1974-1975
piers from which
doors were hung, and the spaces between them. The walls would have extended from these piers
to an overhead ceiling, making several enclosed rooms.
The verse begins, “Boaz went up to the gate.” We saw in 3:3, 6 that the threshing floor was lower
than the town, so Boaz apparently goes directly from the threshing floor to the gate, verifying
Naomi’s intuition of 3:18 that he would not rest until he dealt with the matter.
and, behold, the kinsman goʔēl of whom Boaz spake came by;— Kinsman” is goʔēl. This is
the nearer redeemer of whom Boaz told Ruth in 3:12.
unto whom he said, Ho, such a one!—The Hebrew expression is used to conceal the name of a
person or place (1 Sam 21:3; 2 Ki 6:8). The phrase is literally, “Peloni Almoni,” where the first
word is derived from the root describing something that is mysterious or unknown, and the
second from the root describing dumbness, the inability to speak. Thus it describes a person or
place whose name is unknown and cannot be spoken. We might use the expression “so and so,”
or “John Doe.”
Throughout the book, the narrator has been careful to give us the names of the characters. Boaz
certainly knew the man’s name, but the narrator deliberately conceals it. We’ll see why in 4:6.
turn aside, sit down here. And he turned aside, and sat down. 2 And he took ten men of the
elders of the city, and said, Sit ye down here. And they sat down.—The individual chambers
of the gate were often furnished with benches, where the elders would sit.1
3 And he said unto the kinsman, Naomi, that is come again out of the country of Moab,
selleth a parcel of land,2 which was our brother Elimelech's: 4 And I ‫ אני‬thought to
advertise thee, saying, Buy it before the inhabitants, and before the elders of my people. If

1 https://madainproject.com/tel_beersheva_gate#gallery-6 offers a clear picture of such benches at Beersheba.

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 Ruth 4

thou wilt redeem √gʔl it, redeem √gʔl it: but if thou wilt not redeem √gʔl it, then tell me,
that I may know: for there is none to redeem √gʔl it beside thee; and I ‫ אֹנכי‬am after thee.—
An interesting alternation in 1ps pronouns reflects the spirit of oriental bargaining.3 Boaz begins
with the peer form ‫אני‬, but after acknowledging the priority of the near kinsman, he switches to
the deferential form ‫אֹנכי‬. This heightened sense of politeness in bargaining is seen also in
Abraham’s negotiations for the cave of Machpelah in Genesis 23. There as here, the purchaser
comes with the deferential form of the pronoun (Gen 23:4), and the buyer offers to give the cave
away. But this is the cultural expectation; in fact, Boaz will show himself a clever and
determined bargainer.
As described in Lev 25:25, the redeemer stepped in to recover property that an impoverished
relative had sold out of the family. But this text suggests that the redeemer could also intervene
to purchase the property in the first place, before another family became involved. This form of
the transaction has a close parallel in Jeremiah 32 (chart).
Jer 32:6 And Jeremiah said, The word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 7 Behold,
Hanameel the son of Shallum thine uncle shall come unto thee, saying, Buy thee my field
that is in Anathoth: for the right of redemption √gʔl is thine to buy it. 8 So Hanameel mine
uncle's son came to me in the court of the prison according to the word of the LORD, and
said unto me, Buy my field, I pray thee, that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of
Benjamin: for the right of inheritance is thine, and the redemption is thine; buy it for
thyself. Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD. 9 And I bought the field of
Hanameel my uncle's son, that was in Anathoth, and weighed him the money, even seventeen
shekels of silver. 10 And I subscribed the evidence, and sealed it, and took witnesses, and
weighed him the money in the balances.
His cousin needs to sell a family field. To keep it from passing out of the family, a close relative
must redeem it, and Jeremiah is called upon to provide this service. In Jeremiah, as here, the
right of redemption is closely linked to the right of inheritance. In both cases, the person taking
on the responsibility must be a “near” relative.
Here, centuries earlier, the same situation arises, and Boaz and his relative are discussing who
will take responsibility for keeping the property in the family.
And he said, I will redeem it.—The near kinsman responds courteously, using the deferential
form of the pronoun “I.” He does not grasp jealously at the opportunity, but expresses
appreciation for Boaz’s recognition of his prior position. His courtesy, like that of Ephron the
Hittite to Abraham in Genesis 23 (in offering the cave for free), is the expected conduct in this
culture, and may not reflect his deep interest in the property.
5 Then said Boaz, What day thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must buy it
also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead,—But there is a complication. Naomi is
acting as trustee for Ruth. The fact that Naomi has title to the field shows that a wife could
inherit her husband’s property.
to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance.—This clause reminds us initially of
the law of levirate marriage:

2 The exact nature of the transaction is a matter of discussion. Lipinski (TDOT mkr; VT 26:1,1976, 124-127)
argues that the verb mkr deals not with transfer of property, but of the right to redeem property. See Bush for
extensive survey.
3 We follow the analysis of Revell in Journal of Semitic Studies XL/2 Autumn 1995 199ff.

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 Ruth 4

Deu 25:5 If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the
dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and
take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband's brother unto her. 6 And it shall
be, that the firstborn which she beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother which is
dead, that his name be not put out of Israel.
But this is not levirate marrage, because Boaz was not the brother of Mahlon. Note the different
purposes of preserving the name in the two cases. In Levirate marriage, it is maintaining the
family continuity, but here, it is to associate the property with Mahlon’s family. One focuses on
people, the other on property. And in fact, in 4:18, the genealogy of David is reckoned, not
through Elimelech and Mahlon, but through Boaz:
Ruth 4:21 And Salmon begat Boaz, and Boaz begat Obed, 22 And Obed begat Jesse, and
Jesse begat David.
6 And the kinsman goʔēl said, I No Purchase Purchase w/out Ruth Purchase w/ Ruth
cannot redeem it for myself, lest I JD’s Initial Balance of Balance of
Naomi’s Naomi’s
mar mine own inheritance: redeem Wealth
$10k
JD’s
Wealth Field
JD’s
Wealth Field
thou my right to thyself; for I $8k $2k $8k $2k

cannot redeem it.—Figure 3 (chart)

illustrates the impact of Ruth on the
reasoning of the other redeemer. John
Doe must divert some of his initial
wealth (say, $2k out of $10k) to $2k for $2k for
Naomi’s Naomi’s
purchase the field. If he does not Field Field
marry Ruth, the full $10k still passes
to his own sons by his current wife, $10k to $10k to $8k to JD’s $2k to JD’s
part from his initial equity, and the rest JD’s Other JD’s Other Other Sons by
Sons Sons Sons Ruth
as Naomi’s field, which is now his.
But if he does marry Ruth, he is Figure 3: How Ruth Mars John Doe's Inheritance
purchasing the field only to hold it in trust for his sons by Ruth, and be associated with the name
of Elimelech. John Doe wants his name to be associated with all of his estate, and so is unwilling
to redeem the property.
We have been calling the nearer redeemer “John Doe,” because in 4:1 the narrator, who has been
very careful to record the names of the other characters in the story, has concealed it. Now we
see why. He has refused to redeem Naomi’s field in order to keep his own name attached to his
property, and now his name is forgotten entirely.
7 Now this was the manner in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning
changing, for to confirm all things; a man plucked off his shoe, and gave it to his
neighbour: and this was a testimony in Israel. 8 Therefore the kinsman said unto Boaz,
Buy it for thee. So he drew off his shoe.—Some Bible students attempt to align this transaction
with the shoe with that in the case of the levirate marriage in Deuteronomy 25 (chart):
Deu 25:7 And if the man like not to take his brother's wife, then let his brother's wife go up to
the gate unto the elders, and say, My husband's brother refuseth to raise up unto his brother a
name in Israel, he will not perform the duty of my husband's brother. 8 Then the elders of his
city shall call him, and speak unto him: and if he stand to it, and say, I like not to take her; 9
Then shall his brother's wife come unto him in the presence of the elders, and loose his shoe

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 Ruth 4

from off his foot, and spit in his face, and shall answer and say, So shall it be done unto that
man that will not build up his brother's house. 10 And his name shall be called in Israel, The
house of him that hath his shoe loosed.
But the details differ (Table 1). Deut 25 Ruth 4
The right to property is often
Boaz (Ruth and
demonstrated in Scripture by Who brings the case to the elders? The widow
Naomi are absent)
walking over it. God commands
Abraham, Who takes off the shoe? The widow The near kinsman
Gen 13:17 Arise, walk Is shame imputed? Yes (spitting) No
through the land in the length Table 1: Two different shoe ceremonies
of it and in the breadth of it;
for I will give it unto thee.
And he promises Israel, on their return from Egypt,
Dt 11:24 Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours: from the
wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea shall
your coast be.
Jos 1:3 Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you,
as I said unto Moses.
The figure is part of his specific promise to Caleb:
Dt 1:35 Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land,
which I sware to give unto your fathers, 36 Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it,
and to him will I give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children
Jos 14:9 And Moses sware on that day, saying, Surely the land whereon thy feet have
trodden shall be thine inheritance, and thy children’s for ever, because thou hast wholly
followed the LORD my God.
So it would certainly be appropriate for the sandal to represent the right to the property.
9 And Boaz said unto the elders, and unto all the people, Ye are witnesses this day, that I
have bought [acquired] all that was Elimelech's, and all that was Chilion's and Mahlon's,
of the hand of Naomi.—Now Boaz summarizes the details of the transaction. He is acquiring
the rights to all the property of the family of Elimelech.
10 Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased [acquired] to be
my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead
be not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of his place: ye are witnesses this
day.—As in 4:5, he intends to keep Mahlon’s name associated with the property, but the
response of the people shows that they distinguish this from maintaining the family line.
11 And all the people that were in the gate, and the elders, said, We are witnesses.—They
agree with what Boaz has said about the property.
They next proceed to pray for God’s blessing on “thine house,” through Ruth. They certainly do
not understand the marriage as levirate: Ruth is building up the house of Boaz, not that of
Mahlon or Elimelech. This blessing by the men of the city to Boaz is balanced in 4:13-17 by a
blessing from the women of Bethlehem to Naomi.

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 Ruth 4

Their blessing has three components. The first and third :11a wife like
compare the marriage of Boaz and Ruth with that of Jacob Rachel and
and his wives, and of Judah and Tamar. The central Leah (fruitful) :11b do thou worthily
(xayil) in Ephratah
blessing links these (Figure 4, chart). :12 house like be famous in
Pharez Bethlehem
The LORD make the woman that is come into thine (prominent)
house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build
the house of Israel:—The first family comparison is with Figure 4: 4:11b as summary of the
Jacob’s marriage to Rachel and Leah, in Genesis 29-30. elders' blessings
This family was noted for giving rise to the twelve tribes of Israel, and the blessing suggests that
Boaz will similarly have many offspring from Ruth.
Let’s consider next the third blessing, which compares Boaz’s new family to that of Pharez.
12 And let thy house be like the house of Pharez, whom Tamar bare unto Judah, of the seed
which the LORD shall give thee of this young woman.—Next they invoke the memory of
Judah’s offspring from Tamar, in Genesis 38. This is the clan from which Boaz himself is
descended (4:18). The tribe of Judah was represented by five clans, and three of them were
Pharez and his sons, making Pharez the most prominent of the Judean clans (Figure 5):
Num 26:20 And the sons of Judah after their families were; of Shelah, Judah
the family of the Shelanites: of Pharez, the family of the Pharzites: of
Zerah, the family of the Zarhites. 21 And the sons of Pharez were; of
Hezron, the family of the Hezronites: of Hamul, the family of the Shelah Pharez Zerah
Hamulites.
The situation is analogous to that of Joseph, one of the twelve sons of Hezron Hamul
Jacob, whose sons Ephraim and Manasseh were elevated to the status of
Figure 5: Prominence
tribes along with the other eleven sons, thus giving Joseph a double
of Pharez in the tribe
portion.
of Judah
The elders pray that Boaz’s descendants may be similarly prominent.
11b and do thou worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem:—The central blessing
can be seen as a summary of the outer two. “Worthily” ‫ חיל‬xayil H2428 is the word for wealth
and power which introduced Boaz:
Ruth 2:1 And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband’s, a mighty man of wealth, of the family
of Elimelech; and his name was Boaz.
By fathering a large family, Boaz would “do worthily.” And in being like Perez, he would
become famous.

13-17, The Marriage of Boaz and Ruth

13 So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife: and when he went in unto her, the LORD gave
her conception, and she bare a son.—The Lord’s agency is evident in two ways. First, Ruth
was unfruitful in her marriage to Mahlon, so there might be some question of whether she would
produce a child with Boaz. Second, there is no reference to any other children of Boaz. Unless
he was single (an exceptional condition in that culture), he and his wife had themselves been
barren. Thus Ruth’s conception, like that of Sarah, and Rebekah, and Rachel, and many other
biblical matriarchs, showed the Lord’s gracious intervention.

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 Ruth 4

14 And the women said unto Naomi,—In the previous scene, the men pray for the Lord’s
blessings on the new couple. Now the women of Bethlehem visit and bless Naomi (chart).
Blessed be the LORD,—The book began with Naomi’s heaped-up complaints, first to her
daughters-in-law and then to the women of Bethlehem, against the Lord for his cruelty to her:
1:13 the hand of the LORD is gone out against me.
1:20 call [feminine] me Mara [bitter]: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.
1:21a I went out full, and the LORD hath brought me home again empty:
1:21b why then call [feminine] ye me Naomi, seeing the LORD hath testified against me,
1:21c and the Almighty hath afflicted me?
The women have been out of the picture up to this point, but now they appear again, and their
speech directly rebuts and rebukes her earlier disappointment. She complained against the Lord,
but they bless him. Recall from our study of the Psalms that we thank God for his attributes,
while blessing him for his gifts to us, and this is the force of their summary.
which hath not left thee this day without a kinsman goʔēl,—Who is this redeemer? We think
initially of Boaz, but “this day” suggests that the women have mind the child, who has just been
born. And 4:15 identifies him with the baby whom Ruth has just borne.
Now they describe how this child is in fact a blessing from God.
that his name may be famous in Israel.—Literally, “his name shall be proclaimed in Israel.”
This is the same blessing that the elders prayed for Boaz. Like the elders in the gate, the women
desire that the offspring of Ruth and Boaz may become renowned. Naomi thought that the Lord
had wiped out her family, but in fact her name will be associated with great fame.
15 And he shall be unto thee a restorer ‫ ֵמִׁש יב‬of thy life ‫נפשׁ‬,—Naomi was on the verge of
perishing—not only physically, for lack of food, but in a family sense, with her sons dead. Now
her family will continue, through the baby.
and a nourisher ‫ ַכְלֵּכל‬kalkēl H3557 of thine old age:—The earliest instances of this verb in the
OT, and ones that the women of Bethlehem ought to have known, are in Genesis, and describe
Joseph’s care for his family in Egypt in a time of famine (chart). Joseph was careful to
emphasize that God engineered this provision, and the book of Ruth similarly shows the Lord’s
gracious care through apparent disaster.
Gen 45:7 And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save
your lives by a great deliverance. 8 So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and
he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the
land of Egypt. 9 Haste ye, and go up to my father, and say unto him, Thus saith thy son
Joseph, God hath made me lord of all Egypt: come down unto me, tarry not: 10 And thou
shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou shalt be near unto me, thou, and thy children, and
thy children's children, and thy flocks, and thy herds, and all that thou hast: 11 And there will
I nourish thee; for yet there are five years of famine; lest thou, and thy household, and all
that thou hast, come to poverty.
Gen 47:12 And Joseph nourished his father, and his brethren, and all his father's household,
with bread, according to their families.
Gen 50:19 And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God? 20 But as for
you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day,

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 Ruth 4

to save much people alive. 21 Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little
ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.
for thy daughter in law, which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons, hath
born him.—Not only has the Lord provided her with Obed as her redeemer, but he has also
given her Ruth as a daughter in law more faithful than any son could be.
16 And Naomi took the child, and laid it in her bosom, and became nurse unto it.—So
Naomi undertakes the care of the child, as though it were her own flesh and blood.
Now we read two remarkable things about the women who are blessing Naomi.
17 And the women her neighbours gave it a name,—It’s usually the parent who names the
child. Abraham names Isaac in Gen 21:3; Rachel and Leah name their children in Genesis 29.
But here the women of the town assume this privilege, almost as though the baby is not just the
child of Boaz and Ruth, but of the entire city. It’s not an accident that Israel’s royal dynasty,
which culminates in the Messiah, should be born in Bethlehem. The whole city claims Obed and
his descendants.
saying, There is a son born to Naomi;—This is another remarkable expression. Typically, a
child is born by the mother to the father: Enos is born to Seth (Gen 4:26), Isaac to Abraham (Gen
21:3); Rebekah to Bethuel (Gen 24:15). In considering the legal basis for the transaction in 4:1-
12, we have distinguished between a levirate marriage, in which case the child would be deemed
“born to” Mahlon, and the case here, where Obed is reckoned to be the son of Boaz. But the
women encourage Naomi to think of the baby as her own child. The Lord has sent Obed to take
the places of Mahlon and Chilion.
and they called his name Obed:—The name means “servant, worshipper,” and is the basis of
names like Obadiah (servant of Yahweh) or Obededom (servant of the god Edom). But here, the
name may refer to the service that he will render to Naomi.
he is the father of Jesse, the father of David.—Both the elders and the women have expressed
their wish that the new baby may become famous, and this prayer is fulfilled in the founding of
the royal family.

18-21, A New Family

How could Ruth, a Moabitess, have Israelite children? (chart)
Deu 23:3 (MT 4) An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the
LORD; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the LORD
for ever:
This verse must refer to men converts. Membership in the nation was passed by the father, and so
Boaz’s children would be reckoned as Israelites, though their mother was Moabite.
18 Now these are the generations of Pharez: Pharez begat Hezron, 19 And Hezron begat
Ram, and Ram begat Amminadab, 20 And Amminadab begat Nahshon, and Nahshon
begat Salmon, 21 And Salmon begat Boaz, and Boaz begat Obed, 22 And Obed begat Jesse,
and Jesse begat David.—It is interesting to compare this genealogy to Matthew 1:
Mat 1:3 … and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram; 4 And Aram begat Aminadab;
and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon; 5 And Salmon begat Booz of

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 Ruth 4

Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse; 6 And Jesse begat David the
king; …
Note the addition: “Salmon begat Boaz of Rachab,” the harlot of Joshua 2. Boaz may have been
open to marrying a non-Israelite because his (grand-)mother Rahab also was not Israelite.
Because of these women, the Messiah was born with Gentile as well as Jewish DNA, and is the
Savior of both Jew and Gentile.

Summary
It is always worthwhile to think back over a book and try to summarize it in a single sentence.
Let’s build up to it by chapters.
Chapter 1: After the death of a family in Moab, two women return to Bethlehem, an Israelite
complaining about the Lord’s faithlessness, and a Gentile clinging to him in faith.
Chapter 2: The Lord works through apparent accidents to guide Ruth to Boaz, who feeds her and
Naomi.
Chapter 3: Boaz agrees to redeem and marry Ruth.
Chapter 4: The Lord restores Naomi and founds the line that leads to King David (and the
Messiah).
Overall: The Lord restores an Israelite’s faith and honors that of a Gentile by raising up a faithful
redeemer and establishing the Messianic family.

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 Ruth 4

Notes
Syntax of 4:5
4:5 ‫ַוֹּיאֶמר ֹּבַעז ְּביֹום־ְק נֹוְת ָך ַהָּׂשֶד ה ִמ ַּיד ָנֳעִמ י‬
‫ּוֵמֵא ת רּות ַהּמֹוֲאִבָּיה ֵאֶׁש ת־ַהֵּמ ת ָקִניִת י [ָק ִניָת ה] ְלָהִקים ֵׁש ם־ַהֵּמ ת ַעל־ַנֲחָלתֹו׃‬
MT has athnach on ‫ָנֳעִמי‬, breaking as indicated.
‫ ּוֵמֵא ת‬gets lots of discussion, and there is a tendency to try to make Ruth the object of the second
‫קנה‬, but Holmstedt persuasively notes other uses of this compound preposition with ‫קנה‬: Gen
25:10; 49:30; 50:13; Lev 25:15; 27:24; Josh 24:32; 2 Sam 24:24; 1 Kgs 16:24, leading to the AV
translation.
The main awkwardness of the AV is that the second ‫ קנה‬has no explicit object.

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