Ruth 4:2 (YLT)

Passage

And he taketh ten men of the elders of the city, and saith, `Sit down here;' and they sit down.

Nearby Context

Ruth 4:1 And Boaz hath gone up to the gate, and sitteth there, and lo, the redeemer is passing by of whom Boaz had spoken, and he saith, `Turn aside, sit down here, such a one, such a one;' and he turneth aside and sitteth down.

Ruth 4:2 And he taketh ten men of the elders of the city, and saith, `Sit down here;' and they sit down.

Ruth 4:3 And he saith to the redeemer, `A portion of the field which <FI>is<Fi> to our brother, to Elimelech, hath Naomi sold, who hath come back from the fields of Moab;

Ruth 4:4 and I said, I uncover thine ear, saying, Buy before the inhabitants, and before the elders of my people; if thou dost redeem--redeem, and if none doth redeem--declare to me, and I know, for there is none save thee to redeem, and I after thee.' And he saith, I redeem <FI>it<Fi> .'

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "taketh", "elders", "city", "saith", "down", and "here". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "taketh" and "elders", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 1's "And Boaz hath gone up to the..." into verse 3's "And he saith to the redeemer A...", so "taketh" and "elders" 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 "taketh" and "elders" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.