What Does Ruth 4:10 Mean in the King James?
Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of his place: ye are witnesses this day.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Here, a name is kept from erasure by being made to stand on land and within living kinship, with Ruth herself named in the public pledge.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks now in concrete terms: the dead man’s name is set upon his inheritance through Ruth, who is explicitly described as purchased to be a wife. Marriage, land, kinship, and public witness are bound together; the name’s survival means it remains among the living, not only in memory.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
That a person’s name survives through private remembrance alone; this verse ties it to inheritance, kinship, marriage, and public recognition.
THE ROOT
לְהָקִים
lehaqim
GROWS FROM
קום
rise, stand; in the causative form, raise or establish
Qum (קוּם, rise or stand) turns “raise up” into more than a memorial: the dead man’s shem (שֵׁם, name or nature) is made to stand upon a real inheritance. The branch maqom (מָקוֹם, place) lets the phrase ring physically: the name has a standing place among kin and at the gate.
ALSO GROWS
qam: rose, stood
קָם
The dead man’s name is established so it can stand among his kin.
heqim: raised, established
הֵקִים
This causative form names the act of making the name stand.
maqom: place
מָקוֹם
The shared root links standing with a place; here the name is set upon an inheritance and remains among the community.
יִכָּרֵת
yikkaret
GROWS FROM
כרת
cut; sever
Yikkaret (יִכָּרֵת, be cut off) names severance as a loss of place among brothers and from the town gate; the root also appears in karat berit (כָּרַת בְּרִית, cut a covenant). The shared verb holds cutting as a decisive change in bonds: here the feared cut breaks the name’s connection to kin and inheritance.
ALSO GROWS
karat: cut
כָּרַת
The root names the severing feared for the dead man’s name.
karat berit: cut a covenant
כָּרַת בְּרִית
The same verb can name the making of a bond; here the cut would instead break a bond of kinship and belonging.
נַחֲלָתוֹ
nahalato
GROWS FROM
נחל
inherit or hand on as a possession
Nahalato (נַחֲלָתוֹ, his inheritance) makes the name’s continuity material: it is set upon land that has passed through kinship. The root holds both receiving an inheritance and causing it to pass on, joining the dead man’s name to what continues in the family.
ALSO GROWS
nahalah: inheritance, possession received
נַחֲלָה
This is the land on which the dead man’s name is established.
hinchil: gave or assigned as an inheritance
הִנְחִיל
The root also describes inheritance being passed on, giving the name a place in what continues.
THE PATTERN
A name stays among the living when kinship gives it a place in the inheritance that continues through the family.
And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother’s wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother.And it shall be, that the firstborn which she beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother which is dead, that his name be not put out of Israel.And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse;THE THREAD
And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother’s wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother.Judah says to “raise up seed” for a dead brother, using the same qum (קום, rise or stand) root that Ruth 4:10 uses to establish the dead man’s name. In both verses, continuity is made to stand through kinship.
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