3He then said to the next-of-kin, “Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of land that belonged to our kinsman Elimelech.
The Hebrew that is translated as “kinsman-redeemer” (or “next-of-kin” or “close relative”) is translated in Yasa as “a near family member who has responsibility for protecting the family.”
Joshua Ham explains why: “One of the most important terms in the book of Ruth is the Hebrew word go’el. This word is often translated kinsman-redeemer in English Bibles. In ancient Hebrew culture, the go’el could play many roles. If a married man died without children, his brother (acting as go’el) was expected to marry the widow and carry on the dead man’s lineage. If someone was forced to sell their family land (keeping in mind that family land was very important in the Old Testament), a family member (again acting as go’el) was supposed to eventually restore the family’s title to the land. If a family member was murdered, it was up to the go’el to seek justice.
“As you can imagine, there’s just no way we’re going to find a single word in any language that covers all of those cultural aspects. And if we tried to explain all of those aspects in the text itself, it would get unwieldy pretty fast. So in translating a word like go’el, we try to pick out the most salient points. In the Yasa text of Ruth, we ended up with something like ‘a near family member who has responsibility for protecting the family.’ It’s a bit smoother in Yasa than it sounds in English!”
In Cusco Quechua it is translated as “close relative of a corpse.”
The translation consultant Bill Mitchell (in Omanson 2001, p. 428) tells this story: “The translators struggled to translate the idea [of the near relative responsible for helping a family or clan member hit by misfortune, for example, loss of property, liberty or life]. The translation consultant asked them, ‘Is there anyone in your wider family who takes responsibility for a relative in such circumstances?’ They replied, ‘Yes, of course.’ ‘What do you call that person,’ the consulted asked. ‘There is no special name,’ they said. The consultant replied, ‘If a widow or an orphan needed help, what would they say to this person?’ ‘It will probably seem a bit strange to you, but they would say: ‘You are my close relative and I am your corpse.’’ The translators introduced this into their translation. When they tested it out with different groups, they found that it communicated the Hebrew concept of go’el very well.”
In Southern Birifor it is translated as “funeral husband.” (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
The Hebrew that is transliterated as “Naomi” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with the sign for “changed identity” referring to the many life changes that Naomi goes through in the book of Ruth. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “sell” in English is translated in Noongar as wort-bangal or “away-barter.” Note that “buy” is translated as bangal-barranga or “get-barter.” (Source: Bardip Ruth-Ang 2020)
Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)
The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).
For this verse, the Jarai and the Adamawa Fulfulde translation both use the inclusive pronoun, including everyone.
In Central Africa, land — specifically a “garden” — is not regarded as being the property of an individual. Land rather belongs to the community as a whole and is administered through the chief or headman. A person may allow a relative or friend to use a field which he has worked in the past, but there is no thought of selling it. Once the ground has lost its productivity, a farmer will simply leave it and request a new piece of land from the chief. The translator must also make sure that the term “garden” (munda — Chichewa) is not understood as a metaphoric allusion to Ruth herself in this context, for as the subsequent discussion clearly indicates, an actual piece of land was being referred to. We note also that in Chichewa one must make explicit the fact that Elimelech was no longer alive, namely, by preceding the personal name with the term malemu ‘the late/deceased’.
Following are a number of back-translations of Ruth 4:1-6:
Noongar: “So Boaz went to the gate of Bethlehem and sat there. When the other right-way man was passing by, the one whom Boaz told Ruth, Boaz said to him, ‘Come here, brother, sit here.’ So this man came and sat. Then Boaz called ten men of Bethlehem, saying, ‘Sit here.’ So they sat. Then Boaz said to this other right-way man, ‘Naomi has returned from Moab. She wants to sell the land of our brother Elimelech. I know I must tell you, ‘Take this land yourself, in front of the men sitting here and in front of our elders’. If you want this land, buy it for yourself. But if you don’t want this land, tell me so I know. No man can take this land, only you, and I am after you.’ So the man said, ‘I will take this land.’ So Boaz said, ‘The day you take this land, you also take Ruth of Moab, widow of the dead man, so the name of the dead sits with his land.’ Quickly, the other right-way man said, ‘I cannot take this land for myself, because after I must divide all my land with Ruth. You buy this land for yourself, because I can’t!’” (Source: Bardip Ruth-Ang 2020)
Eastern Bru: “Boaz went to the place where discussions were held near the gate of the town. In that place he met his kinsman who was of Ruth’s clan but closer than he. He called his kinsman and said: ‘Older brother! Sit here a while. I want to discuss something with you for a bit.’ So they sat together.And Boaz asked ten leaders of the town to come and hear what the two of them were discussing. So the ten leaders came and sat there also. Boaz told his kinsman: ‘Naomi has left the country of Moab already. Now she is wanting to sell a piece of ground belonging to Elimelec, our older brother. So I want to discuss this with you now. If you want to buy this land, then you say so in front of these leaders and other people from the town so they can hear. If you want to buy the land, then you buy it, because you are of Naomi’s clan closer than I am. But if you do not want it, then tell me, so that I will know clearly, because only the two of us can buy this land.’ Then the kinsman said to Boaz: ‘Surely I will buy the land.’Then Boaz said: ‘But if you want do buy this land of Naomi’s, you must also take Ruth to be your wife. Ruth is a Moabite, the wife of our kinsman who has died. So you must take the place of our kinsman and raise up children who can carry on his name and take over his inheritance.’Then the kinsman of Boaz answered: ‘If it is like that, I don’t want to buy the land, because I am afraid I would have to divide my inheritance with her children also. So you can take my place and buy the land, because I do not want to take that woman.’” (Source: Bru Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Now, Boaz went to the town’s gate and sat there. When the much closer relative of Elimelec that Boaz had-mentioned/had-referred-to passed-by, Boaz said to him, ‘Come-over-here for-a-while friend and sit-down.’ So the man came-over and sat-down. Then Boaz caused-to-gather the ten rulers of the town and had- them -sit there. And when they had-sat-down, Boaz said to his relative, ‘Noemi has- now -come-back from Moab, and she wants to sell the land of our(incl) relative Elimelec. I thought I should-tell this-(matter) to you(sg). So, if you(sg) want, buy it in the presence of the rulers of my fellow-countrymen and of others who-are-sitting here. But if you(sg) do- not -want, just say so, so-that I will-know. The truth is, you(sg) are the first-one that has the responsibility to buy it, and I am just next (in-line).’ The man said, ‘Okay, I will-buy it.’ But Boaz said, ‘On the day you(sg) buy the land from Noemi, you(sg) must also marry the Moabnon widow Ruth, so-that if you(pl) have now a child, the land will-remain in the family of our(incl) dead relative.’ When the man heard it, he said, ‘If that-is-the-case I will- no-longer -buy the land because I might have-problem with my own land because including our(excl) child to-be with Ruth (will)- now -have a share with my land. You(sg) just buy (it) because I can- not -do it.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Meanwhile, Boaz went up to the town gate and sat there. That was the place where people met together to decide important matters. When the man that Boaz had mentioned came there, the close relative of Ruth and Naomi’s dead husbands who had a responsibility to take care of Naomi and Ruth, Boaz said to him, ‘My friend, come over here and sit down.’ So the man went and sat down. Boaz then gathered ten of the elders of the town and asked them to sit down there also. After they sat down, he said to the man who had the responsibility to take care of Naomi, ‘Naomi has returned from Moab region. She wants to sell the field that belonged to our relative Elimelech. I thought that I should tell you about that, and suggest that you buy it, while these elders who are sitting here are listening. If you are willing to buy the property, do that. But if you do not want to buy it, tell me, so that I will know. I am suggesting this to you because you are the one who has the first right to buy it, and I am the one who has the second/next right to buy it.’ The man replied, ‘I will buy it!’ Then Boaz told him, ‘When you buy the land from Naomi, you will also be taking Ruth, the woman who is from Moab, to be your wife, in order that she may give birth to a son who will inherit the property of her dead husband.’ Then the close relative of Ruth’s dead husband said, ‘If that is so, I do not want to buy the field, because then my own children would not inherit the property; Ruth’s children would inherit it. You buy the property!’” (Source: Translation for Translators)
The identification of his relative must be the same as the phrase used in verse 1. It is very awkward in many languages to keep referring to a person without some proper name, but there is no alternative in the present discourse.
The statement of Boaz is literally in Hebrew: “Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of land which belonged to our kinsman Elimelech.” Good News Translation restructures these principal clauses into a cause-effect or reason-result relation, indicating that in view of the fact that Naomi has come back from Moab, she wanted to sell the field. One of the difficulties in translating this sentence is that this information is entirely new. There is no suggestion, for example, that Boaz had talked to Naomi about this subject. It may be that Boaz simply introduced the question of the land in order to pose this as the first problem or aspect of the negotiation. Such a procedure would certainly be a clever one. This is the opinion of Rowley, op. cit., pages 94-95.
In some languages it is important to indicate that the nearest relative would no doubt know about the field, and therefore the verse may be restructured as “then he said to the nearest relative, ‘You will remember the field that belonged to our relative Elimelech. Naomi has now returned from the country of Moab and she wants to sell it’ ” (cf. New English Bible).
The field that belonged to our relative Elimelech may be translated as “the field which our deceased relative Elimelech formerly owned.”
Our relative Elimelech may be rendered as “Elimelech who was a member of our family,” “Elimelech who belonged to our clan,” “Elimelech who was related to us,” or “Elimelech who was one of our kin.”
The Hebrew verb translated wants to sell is normally read as a participle “is selling.” So H. Greßmann, Die Schriften des Alten Testaments, Göttingen, 1910-1915, I, 2, page 275; Haller, page 16; Herzberg, page 277; Century Bible and the majority of modern translations. The form of the perfect tense (which is the form occurring in the Hebrew text) would normally be translated as “she had sold the field.” This would seem to imply that the land had already been sold and that it would need to be bought back from the actual owner. But in verse 9 Boaz buys the land directly from Naomi. It is not necessary, however, to understand the perfect tense in Hebrew as expressing some past event; it can indicate the fact that a decision to sell and the actual act of selling take place at the same time. See Brockelmann, Hebräische Syntax, par. 41. An additional argument is that this use of the perfect is found in other legal procedures, e.g., in Genesis 23.11. Early translators certainly read a perfect, though they did not rightly understand the meaning: Septuagint hē dedotai; Syriac “Naomi has sold to me.” An appropriate translation in such a case would be “she wants to sell.”
Quoted with permission from de Waard, Jan and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Ruth. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1978, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
This paragraph describes the legal discussion between Boaz and the closest relative to Naomi about whether he was willing to redeem the land. It concludes with this man’s refusal to do so.
4:3a
And he said to the kinsman-redeemer: This is the beginning of a new paragraph. Follow the grammar of your language in choosing whether you should use the name Boaz or the pronoun he.
kinsman-redeemer: This word is used often in this chapter. Therefore, even if it is necessary to use a long phrase in your language to explain the word clearly the first time it occurs, it may be possible to shorten the phrase in some cases.
4:3b
Naomi, who has returned from the land of Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our brother Elimelech: This is new information. There is no mention of how Boaz knew this.
is selling the piece of land: This means that Naomi intended to put the land up for sale. She had not yet sold it. Boaz wanted to discuss the land before he mentioned that he would also marry Ruth. Naomi was selling the land, or the rights to the land, and a close relative had the duty and opportunity to buy it.
land: The Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as land can also be translated as “field.”
Here are some other ways to translate the whole clause “Naomi, who has returned from the land of Moab, is selling the piece of land”:
“Now that Naomi has come back from Moab, she wants to sell the field (Good News Translation) -or-
“You know Naomi, who came back from Moab. She is selling the land (New Living Translation (2004))
that belonged to our brother Elimelech: The Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as our brother can refer to either a literal brother, a cousin, another near relative, or someone else in the same clan. In this case, the reference is to a near relative. Elimelech was probably not an actual brother of Boaz or the other relative.
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