Ruth 4:7-8

4:7 (Now this used to be the customary way to finalize a transaction involving redemption in Israel: ¹  A man would remove his sandal and give it to the other party. ²  This was a legally binding act ³  in Israel.) 4:8 So the guardian said to Boaz, “You may acquire it,” and he removed his sandal. ⁴ 

Isaiah 20:2

20:2 At that time the Lord announced through ⁵  Isaiah son of Amoz: “Go, remove the sackcloth from your waist and take your sandals off your feet.” He did as instructed and walked around in undergarments ⁶  and barefoot.

Mark 1:7

1:7 He proclaimed, ⁷  “One more powerful than I am is coming after me; I am not worthy ⁸  to bend down and untie the strap ⁹  of his sandals.

John 1:27

1:27 who is coming after me. I am not worthy ¹⁰  to untie the strap ¹¹  of his sandal!”

¹ tn Heb “and this formerly in Israel concerning redemption and concerning a transfer to ratify every matter.”

² tn Heb “a man removed his sandal and gave [it] to his companion”; NASB “gave it to another”; NIV, NRSV, CEV “to the other.”

³ tn Heb “the legal witness”; KJV “a testimony”; ASV, NASB “the manner (form NAB) of attestation.”

⁴ tc The LXX adds “and gave it to him” (cf. TEV, CEV), which presupposes the reading ויתן לו. This seems to be a clarifying addition (see v. 7), but it is possible the scribe’s eye jumped from the final vav (ו) on נַעֲלוֹ (na’alo, “his sandal”) to the final vav (ו) on לוֹ (lo, “to him”), accidentally omitting the intervening letters.

⁵ tn Heb “spoke by the hand of.”

⁶ tn The word used here (עָרוֹם, ’arom) sometimes means “naked,” but here it appears to mean simply “lightly dressed,” i.e., stripped to one’s undergarments. See HALOT 883 s.v. עָרוֹם. The term also occurs in vv. 3, 4.

⁷ tn Grk “proclaimed, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

⁸ tn Grk “of whom I am not worthy.”

⁹ tn The term refers to the leather strap or thong used to bind a sandal. This is often viewed as a collective singular and translated as a plural, “the straps of his sandals,” but it may be more emphatic to retain the singular here.

¹⁰ tn Grk “of whom I am not worthy.”

¹¹ tn The term refers to the leather strap or thong used to bind a sandal. This is often viewed as a collective singular and translated as a plural, “the straps of his sandals,” but it may be more emphatic to retain the singular here.