²⁴ You are to allow the redemption of any land you occupy. ²⁵ If your brother becomes destitute and sells part of his property, his nearest relative may come and redeem what his brother has sold. ²⁶ If a man has no family redeemer, but he prospers^[a] and obtains enough to redeem his land, ²⁷ he may calculate the years since its sale, repay the balance to the man he sold it to, and return to his property. ²⁸ But if he cannot obtain enough to repay him, what he sold will remain in the possession of its purchaser until the Year of Jubilee. It is to be released at the Jubilee, so that he may return to his property.

²⁹ “If a man sells a residence in a walled city, his right of redemption will last until a year has passed after its sale; his right of redemption will last a year. ³⁰ If it is not redeemed by the end of a full year, then the house in the walled city is permanently transferred to its purchaser throughout his generations. It is not to be released on the Jubilee. ³¹ But houses in villages that have no walls around them are to be classified as open fields. The right to redeem such houses stays in effect, and they are to be released at the Jubilee.

³² “Concerning the Levitical cities,^(A) the Levites always have the right to redeem houses in the cities they possess. ³³ Whatever property one of the Levites can redeem^[b]—a house sold in a city they possess—must be released at the Jubilee, because the houses in the Levitical cities are their possession among the Israelites. ³⁴ The open pastureland around their cities may not be sold, for it is their permanent possession.

³⁵ “If your brother becomes destitute and cannot sustain himself among^[c] you, you are to support him as a foreigner or temporary resident, so that he can continue to live among you. ³⁶ Do not profit or take interest from him,^(B) but fear your God and let your brother live among you. ³⁷ You are not to lend him your silver with interest or sell him your food for profit. ³⁸ I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.

³⁹ “If your brother among you becomes destitute and sells himself to you,^(C) you must not force him to do slave labor. ⁴⁰ Let him stay with you as a hired hand or temporary resident; he may work for you until the Year of Jubilee. ⁴¹ Then he and his children are to be released from you, and he may return to his clan and his ancestral property.^{(D) 42} They are not to be sold as slaves,^[d] because they are My slaves that I brought out of the land of Egypt. ⁴³ You are not to rule over them harshly^(E) but fear your God. ⁴⁴ Your male and female slaves are to be from the nations around you; you may purchase male and female slaves. ⁴⁵ You may also purchase them from the foreigners staying with you, or from their families living among you—those born in your land. These may become your property. ⁴⁶ You may leave them to your sons after you to inherit as property; you can make them slaves for life. But concerning your brothers, the Israelites, you must not rule over one another harshly.

⁴⁷ “If a foreigner or temporary resident living among you prospers, but your brother living near him becomes destitute and sells himself to the foreigner living among you, or to a member of the foreigner’s clan, ⁴⁸ he has the right of redemption after he has been sold. One of his brothers may redeem him. ⁴⁹ His uncle or cousin may redeem him, or any of his close relatives from his clan may redeem him. If he prospers, he may redeem himself. ⁵⁰ The one who purchased him is to calculate the time from the year he sold himself to him until the Year of Jubilee. The price of his sale will be determined by the number of years. It will be set for him like the daily wages of a hired hand. ⁵¹ If many years are still left, he must pay his redemption price in proportion to them based on his purchase price. ⁵² If only a few years remain until the Year of Jubilee, he will calculate and pay the price of his redemption in proportion to his remaining years.

Ruth and Boaz Marry

4 Boaz went to the gate of the town^(A) and sat down there. Soon the family redeemer Boaz had spoken about came by. Boaz called him by name and said, “Come^[a] over here and sit down.” So he went over and sat down. ² Then Boaz took 10 men of the town’s elders^(B) and said, “Sit here.” And they sat down. ³ He said to the redeemer, “Naomi, who has returned from the land of Moab, is selling a piece of land that belonged to our brother Elimelech.^{(C) 4} I thought I should inform you:^[b] Buy it back in the presence of those seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you want to redeem it, do so. But if you do^[c] not want to redeem it, tell me so that I will know, because there isn’t anyone other than you to redeem it, and I am next after you.”

“I want to redeem it,” he answered.

⁵ Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the land from Naomi, you will also acquire^[d] Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the deceased man, to perpetuate the man’s name on his property.”^(D)

⁶ The redeemer replied, “I can’t redeem it myself, or I will ruin my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption, because I can’t redeem it.”

⁷ At an earlier period in Israel, a man removed his sandal^(E) and gave it to the other party in order to make any matter legally binding concerning the right of redemption or the exchange of property. This was the method of legally binding a transaction in Israel.