Ruth 4:5 is Boaz telling the nearer relative that buying Naomi’s land also means taking Ruth the Moabite as part of the deal, so that the name of her dead husband Mahlon would continue through the family inheritance. Boaz speaks this line at the town gate, in front of ten elders and witnesses, to the unnamed close kinsman who has the first right to redeem Elimelech’s property.
Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must buy it also from Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance.”
Ruth 4:5 (WEB)
What Ruth 4:5 Means
The phrase “On the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi” makes clear that the land is being sold by Naomi, the widow who has returned from Moab. Boaz is describing the transaction in plain commercial terms: the field passes through her hands, and whoever buys it takes it up.
The phrase “you must buy it also from Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead” adds a condition. The kinsman cannot take the land without also taking responsibility for Ruth, who had married Naomi’s son Mahlon. Boaz is naming her as part of the package, not as a separate favor.
The purpose clause, “to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance,” explains why. Mahlon had died without an heir, so his name and his share of his father’s property would disappear from Israel’s records unless a child was born to continue them. The verse does not promise that any particular outcome will follow, but it shows that the law of redemption was meant to keep families and their land intact.
The Context of Ruth 4:5
The book of Ruth is a short narrative set in the period of the judges, and it is traditionally attributed to an unnamed author, with Samuel often suggested by Jewish tradition. It was written for an Israelite audience who knew the laws of levirate marriage and the kinsman-redeemer role described in Leviticus 25 and Deuteronomy 25.
In verses 2 through 4, Boaz gathers ten elders and sets up the legal meeting, announces that Naomi is selling the land, and offers the nearer kinsman first chance to redeem it. Only after that kinsman says he will redeem the land does Boaz add the condition of verse 5. That sequence shows the verse is a twist in the negotiation, which is why the kinsman later backs away in verse 6.
Key Phrases in Ruth 4:5
Ruth 4:14
The women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you today without a near kinsman. Let his name be famous in Israel.
(WEB)
This verse follows the redemption and celebrates the birth of Obed, the child who carries forward the name of Mahlon. It shows the fruit that Boaz’s arrangement in verse 5 was meant to produce, and it puts the story’s hope into a single line.
Leviticus 25:25
“‘If your brother becomes poor, and sells some of his possessions, then his kinsman who is next to him shall come, and redeem that which his brother has sold.
(WEB)
This law describes the kinsman-redeemer’s duty to buy back land that a poor relative has sold. It is the legal background that gives Boaz’s words in Ruth 4:5 their weight, since the same principle of keeping family land within the family stands behind both passages.
A Short Prayer From Ruth 4:5
Lord, you see the families we are part of and the choices that shape them. Give me the wisdom to count the full cost of any commitment before I make it, and the courage to keep faith when that cost grows. Help me to be someone who protects the names and the futures of those who depend on me, as Boaz did for Naomi and Ruth. Thank you that your care for the vulnerable never runs out. Amen.
