Ruth 4:4

4 and I think you ought to know about it. Now then, if you want it, buy it in the presence of these men sitting here. But if you don't want it, say so, because the right to buy it belongs first to you and then to me." The man said, "I will buy it."

Ruth 4:4 Meaning and Commentary

Ruth 4:4

And I thought to advertise thee
To give him notice of it; or "I said" F7; he said in his heart and mind, purposing to do it; or he said it to Ruth, promising her that he would do it:

saying, buy it before the inhabitants, and before the elders of my
people;
or before those that sat there, even the elders, as witnesses of the purchase:

if thou wilt redeem it, redeem it:
for it was redeemable by a near kinsman according to the law, even when said to another, in ( Leviticus 25:25 ) ,

but if thou wilt not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know;
what to do in this affair, whether to redeem it or not:

for there is none to redeem it besides thee, and I am after thee;
he was the first, and Boaz was the next near kinsman, to whom the right of redemption belonged:

and he said, I will redeem it:
he chose to make the purchase, he liked the land, which he probably full well knew, and it might lie near his own, and make a good addition to it; and as the widow was determined, and under a necessity to sell, he might expect to have it at a cheap rate; all which might induce him at once to agree to be the purchaser.


FOOTNOTES:

F7 (ytrma ynaw) "et ego dixi", Pagninus, Montanus

Ruth 4:4 In-Context

2 Then Boaz got ten of the leaders of the town and asked them to sit down there too. When they were seated,
3 he said to his relative, "Now that Naomi has come back from Moab, she wants to sell the field that belonged to our relative Elimelech,
4 and I think you ought to know about it. Now then, if you want it, buy it in the presence of these men sitting here. But if you don't want it, say so, because the right to buy it belongs first to you and then to me." The man said, "I will buy it."
5 Boaz said, "Very well, if you buy the field from Naomi, then you are also buying Ruth, the Moabite widow, so that the field will stay in the dead man's family."
6 The man answered, "In that case I will give up my right to buy the field, because it would mean that my own children would not inherit it. You buy it; I would rather not."
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.