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Ruth 4:2

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex) Ruth 4:2 appears in the Hebrew Old Testament. The text above is from the Westminster Leningrad Codex. Each word links to its Strong’s number, a concise gloss, and parsing drawn from the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible morphology. Click any word for its full Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB) entry.
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Ruth 4:2 (World English Bible). Public Domain. Lemma interlinear Bible study tool, https://lemma.gebible.app/v/ruth/4/2.

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English Translation
He took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit you down here. They sat down.
World English Bible · Public Domain
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Compare translations 3

The same verse in 3 English versions, stacked beneath the original-language interlinear above. Click any original word for its lexicon entry.

Each is an independent rendering of the whole verse — the interlinear is not word-aligned to these translations.

Highlighted words mark where these versions differ — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment.

  • World English Bible Public Domain
    He took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit you down here. They sat down.
  • King James Version Public Domain
    And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit ye down here. And they sat down.
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
    Then he took ten men from the elders of the city and said, “Sit down here.” So they sat down.

unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult).

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Show all 18 translations

Every available English version of this verse, each an independent rendering of the whole verse.

  • World English Bible Public Domain
    He took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit you down here. They sat down.
  • Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
    Then Boaz took ten of the elders of the city and said, “Sit here,” and they did so.
  • Majority Standard Bible Public Domain
    Then Boaz took ten of the elders of the city and said, “Sit here,” and they did so.
  • King James Version Public Domain
    And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit ye down here. And they sat down.
  • American Standard Version (1901) Public Domain
    And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit ye down here. And they sat down.
  • Revised Version (1885) Public Domain
    And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit ye down here. And they sat down.
  • Geneva Bible (1599) Public Domain
    Then he tooke ten men of the Elders of the citie, and sayd, Sit ye downe here. And they sate downe.
  • Douay-Rheims (1899) Public Domain
    And Booz taking ten men of the ancients of the city, said to them: Sit ye down here.
  • Young's Literal Translation Public Domain
    And he taketh ten men of the elders of the city, and saith, `Sit down here;' and they sit down.
  • Literal Standard Version CC BY-SA 4.0
    And he takes ten men from [the] elderly of the city, and says, “Sit down here”; and they sit down.
  • Unlocked Literal Bible CC BY-SA 4.0
    Then Boaz took ten men of the elders of the city and said, “Sit down here.” So they sat down.
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
    Then he took ten men from the elders of the city and said, “Sit down here.” So they sat down.
  • Darby Bible Public Domain
    And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit down here. And they sat down.
  • World Messianic Bible Public Domain
    Boaz took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, “Sit down here,” and they sat down.
  • Webster's Bible Public Domain
    And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit ye down here. And they sat down.
  • Free Bible Version CC BY-SA 4.0
    Then Boaz selected ten of the town elders and asked them to sit there with them.
  • Bible in Basic English Public Domain
    Then he got ten of the responsible men of the town, and said, Be seated here. And they took their seats.
  • JPS Tanakh (1917) Public Domain
    And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said: 'Sit ye down here.' And they sat down.

Literal Standard Version (2020), Covenant Press — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). Unlocked Literal Bible (unfoldingWord) — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult). Free Bible Version, Dr. Jonathan Gallagher — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org).

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About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

9
words
8
distinct lemmas
Historical
section

Grammatical profile

  • 4 verbs
  • 2 nouns
  • 2 adjectives
  • 1 adverb

Verb forms

  • וַיִּקַּ֞ח Qal · Sequential Imperfect
  • וַיֹּ֣אמֶר Qal · Sequential Imperfect
  • שְׁבוּ Qal · Imperative
  • וַיֵּשֵֽׁבוּ Qal · Sequential Imperfect

Repetition

A word recurs within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

  • שְׁבוּ to dwell H3427 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 19 words from the Hebrew and 20 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 9 Hebrew tokens and 16 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

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Cross-references

8

Topical passages linked to Ruth 4:2 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

  • Proverbs 31:23 Her husband is respected in the gates, When he sits among the elders of the land.
  • 1 Kings 21:8 So she wrote letters in Ahab's name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters to the elders and to the nobles who were in his city, [and] who lived with Naboth.
  • Exodus 21:8 If she doesn't please her master, who has married her to himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, seeing he has dealt deceitfully with her.
  • Lamentations 5:14 The elders have ceased from the gate, The young men from their music.
  • Acts 6:12 They stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes, and came against him and seized him, and brought him in to the council,
  • Exodus 18:21–22 Moreover you shall provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God: men of truth, hating unjust gain; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.
  • Deuteronomy 29:10 You stand this day all of you before Yahweh your God; your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your officers, even all the men of Israel,
  • Deuteronomy 31:28 Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to witness against them.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Ruth 4:2 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וַיִּקַּ֞ח עֲשָׂרָ֧ה אֲנָשִׁ֛ים מִזִּקְנֵ֥י הָעִ֖יר וַיֹּ֣אמֶר שְׁבוּ פֹ֑ה וַיֵּשֵֽׁבוּ

He took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit you down here. They sat down.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Ruth 4:2 Septuagint · lemma form

καί λαμβάνω βοος δέκα ἀνήρ ἀπό ὁ πρεσβύτερος ὁ πόλις καί εἶπον καταἵζω ὧδε καί καταἵζω

And Booz took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit you⌃ here; and they sat down.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Commentary

Notes on Ruth 4:2 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Rth 4:2 And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit ye down here. And they sat down.

Ver. 2. And he said, Sit ye down here.] Elders they were called for their gravity and authority. Ten, haply, to immind them of the Ten Commandments, the rule of their sovereignty. Sit they must, to teach them to be of a sedate and considerate spirit, in hearing and determining controversies.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joseph Benson's Commentary

Rth 4:2. He took ten men — To be witnesses; for though two or three witnesses were sufficient, yet in weightier matters they used more. And ten was the usual number among the Jews in causes of matrimony and divorce, and translation of inheritances; who were both judges of the causes and witnesses of the fact.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown

he took ten men of the elders of the city--as witnesses. In ordinary circumstances, two or three were sufficient to attest a bargain; but in cases of importance, such as matrimony, divorce, conveyancing of property, it was the Jewish practice to have ten (Kg1 21:8).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 2. He took ten men] Probably it required this number to constitute a court. How simple and how rational was this proceeding!

1. The man who had a suit went to the city gates.

2. Here he stopped till the person with whom he had the suit came to the gate on his way to his work.

3. He called him by name, and he stopped and sat down.

4. Then ten elders were called, and they came and sat down.

5. When all this was done, the appellant preferred his suit.

6. Then the appellee returned his answer.

7. When the elders heard the case, and the response of the appellee, they pronounced judgment, which judgment was always according to the custom of the place.

8. When this was done, the people who happened to be present witnessed the issue.

And thus the business was settled without lawyers or legal casuistry. A question of this kind, in one of our courts of justice, in these enlightened times, would require many days' previous preparation of the attorney, and several hours' arguing between counsellor Botherum and counsellor Borum, till even an enlightened and conscientious judge would find it extremely difficult to decide whether Naomi might sell her own land, and whether Boaz or Peloni might buy it! O, glorious uncertainty of modern law!

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

2. the elders] possessed magisterial authority, and could be summoned to deal not only with criminal charges (Deu_19:12; Deu_21:2-4, 1Ki_21:8 ff.), but with cases affecting the rights of a family (Deu_25:7-9).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

And he took ten men of the elders of the city,.... Who were such, not merely in age but in office, who were the heads of thousands, fifties, and tens; ten of whom were a quorum to do business in judiciary affairs, to determine such matters as Boaz had propose, as to whom the right of redemption of a brother and kinsman's widow, and her estate, belonged, and who were the proper witnesses of the refusal of the one to do it, and of the other's doing it and from hence the Jews (e) gather, that the blessing of the bride and bridegroom at their marriage is not to be done by less than ten persons:

and said, sit down here, and they sat down; and so made a full court.

(e) Misnah Megillah, c. 4. sect. 3. T. Bab. Cetubot, fol. 7. 1. Midrash Ruth, fol. 35. 1.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Every city was governed by elders (see Deu 19:12; Jdg 8:14). For the number “ten,” compare Exo 18:25. Probably the presence of, at least, ten elders was necessary to make a lawful public assembly, as among modern Jews ten (a minyon) are necessary to constitute a synagogue.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Here, as witnesses, not as judges, ver. 9. (Calmet) --- This number was requisite in matters of consequence. (Grotius)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

He took two men, to be umpires or witnesses between them; for though two or three witnesses were sufficient, yet in weightier matters they used more. And

ten was the usual number among the Jews, in causes of matrimony and divorce, and translation of inheritances; who were both judges of the causes, and witnesses of the fact. See 1Ki 21:8.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

2. Elders of the city — Whose years and judgment gave weight to all their decisions. Why ten were called does not appear, but perhaps that was the number required to constitute a court.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Pulpit Commentary

And he took ten men of the elderly inhabitants of the city, and he said, Sit ye here; and they sat down. Boaz wished to have a full complement of witnesses to the important transaction which he contemplated.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Ten men - To be witnesses: for though two or three witnesses were sufficient, yet in weightier matters they used more. And ten was the usual number among the Jews, in causes of matrimony and divorce, and translation of inheritances; who were both Judges of the causes, and witnesses of the fact.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Ruth, in the Historical, opens this verse with 9 words (8 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is pôh (“here”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

  1. The word pôh carries the sense “here.” How does it shape the verse?
  2. How does Proverbs 31:23, which shares this passage’s theme, read alongside this verse?
  3. What does the repetition of “to dwell” (2× in this one verse) do in this verse?
  4. The translations on this page render this verse differently — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment. What might account for the different wordings?
  5. «וַיִּקַּ֞ח» is a Qal Sequential Imperfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
  6. Compare how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Joseph Benson's Commentary read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

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Old Testament
Old Testament edition

Read the OT as the Masoretic Hebrew (MT) or the Greek Septuagint (LXX).

English shown for the Greek Septuagint (in the Hebrew ↔ Greek comparison).

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