Ruth 4:10

Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased 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.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
Ruth	ר֣וּת rut	H7327	Ruth · proper noun, a woman's name
Moabitess	הַמֹּאֲבִיָּה֩ ha.mo.'a.vi.Yah	H4125	a Moabite or Moabitess · definite article + noun, gentilic feminine singular absolute
wife	אֵ֨שֶׁת 'E.shet	H802	a woman · noun, common feminine singular construct
Mahlon	מַחְל֜וֹן mach.Lon	H4248	Machlon · proper noun, a man's name
purchased	קָנִ֧יתִי ka.Ni.ti	H7069	to erect · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular
wife	לְאִשָּׁ֗ה le.'i.Shah	H802	a woman · preposition + noun, common feminine singular absolute
up	לְהָקִ֤ים le.ha.Kim	H6965	to rise (in various applications · preposition + verb, hiphil infinitive construct
name	שֵׁם shem-	H8034	an appellation · noun, common masculine singular construct
dead	הַמֵּת֙ ha.Met	H4191	to die (literally or figuratively) · definite article + verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
inheritance	נַ֣חֲלָת֔וֹ na.cha.la.To	H5159	properly · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
name	שֵׁם shem-	H8034	an appellation · noun, common masculine singular construct
dead	הַמֵּ֛ת ha.Met	H4191	to die (literally or figuratively) · definite article + verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
off	יִכָּרֵ֧ת yi.ka.Ret	H3772	to cut (off · verb, niphal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
among	מֵעִ֥ם me.'Im	H5973	adverb or preposition · preposition + preposition
brethren	אֶחָ֖יו 'e.Chav	H251	a brother (used in the widest sense of literal relation… · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
gate	וּמִשַּׁ֣עַר u.mi.Sha.'ar	H8179	an opening · conjunction + preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
place	מְקוֹמ֑וֹ me.ko.Mo	H4725	properly · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
witnesses	עֵדִ֥ים 'e.Dim	H5707	concretely · noun, common masculine plural absolute
day	הַיּֽוֹם hai.Yom	H3117	a day (as the warm hours) · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Deuteronomy 25:6 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 o…
Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
Genesis 29:18-19 And Jacob loved Rachel; and said, I will serve thee seven years for Rachel thy younger daughter.
Genesis 29:27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.
Joshua 7:9 For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth: an…
Psalms 34:16 The face of the LORD is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
Psalms 109:15 Let them be before the LORD continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.
Proverbs 18:22 Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the LORD.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Ruth 4:9-12

Boaz now sees his way clear, and therefore delays not to perform his promise made to Ruth that he would do the kinsman's part, but in the gate of the city, before the elders and all the people, publishes a marriage-contract between himself and Ruth the Moabitess, and therewith the purchase of all the estate that belonged to the family of Elimelech. If he had not been (Rut 2:1) a mighty man of wealth, he could not have compassed this redemption, nor done this service to his kinsman's family. What is a great estate good for, but that it enables a man to do so much the more good in his generation, and especially to those of his own household, if he have but a heart to use it so! Now concerning…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Ruth 4:10

Ruth the Moabitess . . . have I purchased to be my wife--This connection Boaz not only might form, since Ruth had embraced the true religion, but he was under a legal necessity of forming it.

Adam Clarke on Ruth 4:7

A man plucked off his shoe - The law of such a case is given at large in Deu 25:5-9. It was simply this: If a brother, who had married a wife, died without children, the eldest brother was to take the widow, and raise up a family to the brother deceased; and he had a right to redeem the inheritance, if it had been alienated. But if the person who had the right of redemption would not take the woman, she was to pull off his shoe and spit in his face, and he was ever after considered as a disgraced man. In the present case the shoe only is taken off, probably because the circumstances of the man were such as to render it improper for him to redeem the ground and take Ruth to his wife; and beca…

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John Gill on Ruth 4:10

Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife,.... Which was the condition on which the purchase of the land was, that whoever bought that should take her for his wife; nor did Boaz do evil in marrying her, though a Moabitess. Moab was not one of the nations with whom marriage was forbidden; and though it was a Heathenish and idolatrous nation, and so on that account it was not fit and proper to marry with such, yet Ruth was become a proselytess; nor was this contrary to the law in Deuteronomy 23:3, since, according to the sense the Jews give of it, it respects men, and not women, and such men who otherwise were capable of bearing offices in the congregatio…

The Church Fathers

See, for instance, what befell Ruth, how like it is to the things which belong to us. For she was both of a strange race, and reduced to the utmost poverty, yet Boaz when he saw her neither despised her poverty nor abhorred her mean birth, as Christ having received the Church, being both an alien and in much poverty, took her to be partaker of the great blessings. But even as Ruth, if she had not before left her father, and renounced household and race, country and kindred, would not have attained unto this alliance; so the Church too, having forsaken the customs which men had received from their fathers, then, and not before, became lovely to the Bridegroom. Of this therefore the prophet discourses unto her, and saith, "Forget thy people, and thy father's house, so shall the king have pleasure in thy beauty."
— John Chrysostom, Homily on Matthew 3

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Boaz — Alacrity. (1.) The husband of Ruth, a wealthy Bethlehemite. By the “levirate law” the duty devolved on him of marrying Ruth the Moabitess (Ruth 4:1-13). He was a kinsman of Mahlon, her first husband.…
Gate — (1.) Of cities, as of Jerusalem (Jer. 37:13; Neh. 1:3; 2:3; 3:3), of Sodom (Gen. 19:1), of Gaza (Judg. 16:3). (2.) Of royal palaces (Neh. 2:8). (3.) Of the temple of Solomon (1 Kings 6:34, 35; 2…
Levirate Law — From Latin levir, “a husband’s brother,” the name of an ancient custom ordained by Moses, by which, when an Israelite died without issue, his surviving brother was required to marry the widow, so as…
Mahlon — Sickly, the elder of Elimelech the Bethlehemite’s two sons by Naomi. He married Ruth and died childless (Ruth 1:2, 5; 4:9, 10), in the land of Moab.
Marriage — Was instituted in Paradise when man was in innocence (Gen. 2:18-24). Here we have its original charter, which was confirmed by our Lord, as the basis on which all regulations are to be framed (Matt.…
Orpah — Forelock or fawn, a Moabitess, the wife of Chilion (Ruth 1:4; 4:10). On the death of her husband she accompanied Naomi, her mother-in-law, part of the way to Bethlehem, and then returned to Moab.
Covenant · Loosing the shoe — Loosing the shoe
Covenants · Conditions of: Witnessed — Conditions of: Witnessed
Heir · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Inheritance · Provisions for inheritance un — Provisions for inheritance un
Land · Witnessed — Witnessed
Mahlon

Ruth 4:10

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Ruth 4:9-12

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Ruth 4:10

Adam Clarke on Ruth 4:7

John Gill on Ruth 4:10

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Ruth 4:10

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Ruth 4:9-12

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Ruth 4:10

Adam Clarke on Ruth 4:7

John Gill on Ruth 4:10

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on Ruth 4:6-12

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Ruth 4:10

Rashi on Ruth 4:10