And I thought I would apprise thee of it and say, Buy [it] in the presence of the inhabitants, and in the presence of the elders of my people. If thou wilt redeem [it], redeem; but if thou wilt not redeem, tell me, that I may know; for there is none to redeem besides thee; and I am after thee. And he said, I will redeem [it].
Ruth 4:2 And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit down here. And they sat down.
Ruth 4:3 And he said to him that had the right of redemption: Naomi, who is come back out of the country of Moab, sells the allotment that was our brother Elimelech's.
Ruth 4:4 And I thought I would apprise thee of it and say, Buy [it] in the presence of the inhabitants, and in the presence of the elders of my people. If thou wilt redeem [it], redeem; but if thou wilt not redeem, tell me, that I may know; for there is none to redeem besides thee; and I am after thee. And he said, I will redeem [it].
Ruth 4:5 And Boaz said, On the day thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must buy [it] also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance.
Ruth 4:6 And he that had the right of redemption said, I cannot redeem [it] for myself, lest I mar mine own inheritance. Redeem thou for thyself what I should redeem, for I cannot redeem [it].
The verse centers on "thought", "apprise", "thee", "presence", "inhabitants", "elders", and "people". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "thought" and "apprise", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 3's "And he said to him that had..." into verse 5's "And Boaz said On the day thou...", so "thought" and "apprise" belong inside that flow. In Ruth context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.
A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "thought" and "apprise" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.