Ruth 4:20 is a genealogy link, and its plain meaning is simple: it names two men in a family line, Amminadab and his son Nahshon, and then Nahshon’s son Salmon, so that the record of David’s ancestry stays unbroken. The verse is spoken by the narrator of the book of Ruth, who is writing for an Israelite audience that already knew the family tree of their greatest king.
And Amminadab became the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon became the father of Salmon…
Ruth 4:20 (WEB)
What Ruth 4:20 Means
The verse moves down a chain of fathers and sons. Amminadab is the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon is the father of Salmon. Each name is a single link, and the sentence does nothing more than pass the family line forward one generation at a time. In everyday terms, it is like reading a family Bible where each entry simply says who begot whom.
What the verse does not do is describe these men’s characters, deeds or faith. It does not tell us what they accomplished or how they lived. Its purpose is to establish continuity. The verse says that a particular family line existed and that it continued, which is the whole point of a genealogy in Scripture.
It is worth being careful not to read more into it than the text gives. Ruth 4:20 offers no promise to any reader and no lesson in itself. Its meaning comes from its place in the larger story, which is where the next section picks up.
The Context of Ruth 4:20
The book of Ruth is traditionally attributed to an unnamed author, and most scholars date its final form to the period after the monarchy had begun, though the events it describes are set in the time of the judges. The story follows Ruth, a Moabite widow who stays with her mother-in-law Naomi in Bethlehem, and it ends with Ruth’s marriage to Boaz and the birth of their son Obed. The book was written to show how a loyal outsider became part of God’s people and of the royal line.
Just before Ruth 4:20, the women of Bethlehem name Obed and declare that a son has been born to Naomi, and the narrator then gives the lineage that runs from Perez through Ram and Amminadab to Nahshon and Salmon, ending with David. Read in that setting, Ruth 4:20 is the middle of a deliberate chain that connects the obscure family of a foreign widow to the king of Israel. The verse matters because it is one of the links that makes that connection visible.
Key Phrases in Ruth 4:20
Matthew 1:5
Salmon became the father of Boaz by Rahab. Boaz became the father of Obed by Ruth. Obed became the father of Jesse.
(WEB)
This verse names Salmon, Boaz and Ruth in Jesus’s genealogy, showing that the line recorded in Ruth 4:20 continues into the New Testament and is fulfilled in Christ. Reading the two together reveals how the early chapters of Ruth were part of a story that reaches its goal much later.
Ruth 4:22
And Obed became the father of Jesse, and Jesse became the father of David.
(WEB)
This verse completes the genealogy by naming Jesse and then David, bringing the family line to the king. It is the natural next step after Ruth 4:20, and reading it closes the chain that the earlier verse begins.
A Short Prayer From Ruth 4:20
Lord, you remember every family line and you do not lose track of any of your people. Thank you that the names in your Word are not forgotten, and that you bring your purposes forward through ordinary households and quiet faithfulness. Help me to trust that my small part in your story matters to you, even when I cannot see how it fits. Keep my family and my days woven into your larger plan, and let me live with gratitude for those who came before me. Amen.
