Bible Strands
Ruth 4:9
At this, Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses today that I am buying from Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech, Chilion, and Mahlon.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Boaz speaks to the elders and the assembled people at the city gate immediately after the kinsman-redeemer removes his sandal. He announces that he is purchasing the property formerly belonging to Elimelech, Chilion, and Mahlon from Naomi.
The words — The Hebrew עֵדִים ('e.Dim) means witnesses, and הַ/יּ֔וֹם (hai./Yom) translates as this day. Boaz places these terms at the center of his declaration to mark the transaction as a formal, time-bound legal act.
The thread — The text notes that community attestation for property transfers appears in Genesis 23:16, where Abraham weighs silver before witnesses, and Jeremiah 32:10, where a deed is signed and sealed before witnesses. Ruth 4:9 operates within this established legal pattern of public verification.
Why it lands — The verse explicitly records a public declaration of property acquisition before the community as a binding legal requirement. It asks the reader to acknowledge that ancestral claims and transfers in this narrative depend on verifiable, communal testimony rather than private arrangement.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And Boaz said unto the elders, and unto all the people, Ye are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s, and all that was Chilion’s and Mahlon’s, of the hand of Naomi.
Cross-references
- Genesis 23:16 Abraham agreed to Ephron’s terms and weighed out for him the price he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: four hundred shekels of silver, according to the standard of the merchants.
- Jeremiah 32:10 I signed and sealed the deed, called in witnesses, and weighed out the silver on the scales.