Ruth 4:1-9
village gate <08179> [to the gate.]
guardian <01350> [the kinsman.]
leaders <02205> [the elders.]
said <0559> [he said.]
informing ........................................................ replied <0559> [I thought. Heb. I said I will reveal in thine ear. Buy it.]
sitting <03427> [before the inhabitants.]
redeem ..... so ................... redeem .............. redeem <01350> [for there is none.]
When <03117> [What day.]
Or rather, according to the emendations proposed by Houbigant and Dr. Kennicott, and which have been confirmed by a great many MSS. since collated, and agreeably to the ancient versions, "In the day thou purchasest the land from the hand of Naomi, thou wilt also acquire Ruth, the Moabitess, the wife of the dead," etc. This is Boaz's statement of the case to his kinsman, before the people and elders.
preserve ....... up <06965> [to raise up.]
unable ........................ unable <03201> [I cannot.]
The Targum seems to give the proper sense of this passage: "I cannot redeem it, because I have a wife already; and it is not fit for me to bring another into my house, lest brawling and contention arise in it; and lest I hurt my own inheritance. Do thou redeem it, for thou has no wife; which hinders me from redeeming it."
man ... remove <0376 08025> [a man plucked off.]
This custom does not refer to the law about refusing to marry a brother's widow, but was usual in the transfer of inheritances: for this relative was not a brother, but simply a kinsman; and the shoe was not pulled off by Ruth, but by the kinsman himself. The Targumist, instead of his shoe, renders "his right hand glove," it probably being the custom, in his time, to give that instead of a shoe. Jarchi says, "When we purchase any thing new, it is customary to give, instead of a shoe, a handkerchief or veil."
witnesses <05707> [Ye are witnesses.]
