Ruth 4:6
“And the kinsman said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar mine own inheritance: redeem thou my right to thyself; for I cannot redeem it.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →The kinsman declines, unwilling to endanger his own inheritance, and yields his right to Boaz.
What Does Ruth 4:6 Mean?
Faced with the full cost, the nearer kinsman draws back. I cannot redeem it for myself, he says, lest I mar mine own inheritance. To marry Ruth and raise an heir for Mahlon would mean investing his resources in a son who would inherit in another man's name, diminishing his own estate. So he yields his right of redemption to Boaz: redeem thou my right to thyself.
The contrast between the two kinsmen could not be sharper. The nearer relative weighs the cost and refuses; he will not endanger his own inheritance to restore another's. Boaz, by contrast, will gladly take on that very cost. Here is the difference between calculated self-interest and self-giving love. Redemption that costs nothing is easy to embrace; redemption that requires real sacrifice reveals the heart. The willing redeemer is the one who counts another's restoration worth his own loss, a quiet foreshadowing of the Redeemer who would give everything to make a lost people His own. The nearer kinsman steps aside, and the way opens for Boaz.