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 neighbor; and this was a testimony in Israel. Therefore the kinsman said unto Boaz, “Buy it for thee.” So he drew off his shoe.
And Boaz said unto the elders and all the people, “Ye are witnesses this day that I have bought all that was Naomi’s husband’s and all that was her son’s of the hand of Naomi. Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of my kinsman that is dead, have I purchased to be my wife, 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.”
And all the people that were there in the gate, and the elders, said, “We are witnesses. The Lord make the woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel: and do thou worthily and be famous in Bethlehem.”
So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife, and she bare him a son. And the women said unto Naomi, “Blessed be the Lord that hath not left thee this day without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel. And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life, and a nourisher of thine old age; for thy daughter-in-law which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons, hath borne him.”
And Naomi took the child and laid it in her bosom, and became nurse unto it. And the women, her neighbors, gave it a name, saying, “There is a son born to Naomi, and his name is Obed.”
This same Obed is the father of Jesse, who is the father of David.
[146-1] Naomi means pleasant, while Mara means bitter.
[148-2] The ephah was equal to about two pecks and five quarts.