And all the people who were in the gate, and the elders, said, “We are witnesses. May Yahweh grant the woman who is coming into your home to be like Rachel and Leah, both of whom built the house of Israel, and so you shall achieve excellence in Ephrathah and shall proclaim your name in Bethlehem.
Ruth 4:9 Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses today that I have acquired all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and Mahlon from the hand of Naomi.
Ruth 4:10 And also, I have acquired Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Mahlon, to be my wife in order to raise up the name of the one who had died, on behalf of his inheritance, so that the name of the one who had died will not be cut off from his brothers or from the gate of his birth place; you are witnesses today.”
Ruth 4:11 And all the people who were in the gate, and the elders, said, “We are witnesses. May Yahweh grant the woman who is coming into your home to be like Rachel and Leah, both of whom built the house of Israel, and so you shall achieve excellence in Ephrathah and shall proclaim your name in Bethlehem.
Ruth 4:12 Moreover, may your house be like the house of Perez whom Tamar bore to Judah, through the seed which Yahweh will grant you by this young woman.”
Ruth 4:13 So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife, and he went in to her. And Yahweh granted her conception, and she gave birth to a son.
The verse centers on "people", "gate", "elders", "said", "witnesses", "yahweh", "grant", and "woman". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "people" and "gate", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 10's "And also I have acquired Ruth the..." into verse 12's "Moreover may your house be like the...", so "people" and "gate" 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 "people" and "gate" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.