What Does Ruth 4:6 Mean in the King James?
And the kinsman said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar mine own inheritance: redeem thou my right to thyself; for I cannot redeem it.
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
The verb for “redeem” carries kinship inside it, so this refusal places the cost of reclaiming a relative’s inheritance beside the kinsman’s own.
THE MEANING
The verse holds together the claim of kinship and the kinsman’s concern for what he already holds. He releases his right to another relative who can take it up, and his reason stays explicit: he fears marring his own inheritance. The claim and its cost remain visible together.
THE ROOT
לִגְאֹל
lig'ol from ga'al
GROWS FROM
גאל
To reclaim or recover as a relative.
“redeem” in this verse is lig'ol from ga'al. The Hebrew verb carries kinship inside the act of redeeming: this is a relative reclaiming what is at stake. The verse repeats the root around the refusal and the transfer of the right, making redemption a concrete claim another relative can take up.
ALSO GROWS
go'el: A relative who reclaims what is at stake.
גֹּאֵל
The verse names the speaker with this word, so his kinship is part of the role he declines.
ge'ullah: The act or claim of reclaiming.
גְּאֻלָּה
This is the right he releases to the other kinsman.
אַשְׁחִית
ashchit
GROWS FROM
שחת
To ruin, destroy, or corrupt.
The word rendered “mar” can carry the force of ruining or corrupting, so the feared consequence is more than a cosmetic mark. The kinsman names damage to his own inheritance as the reason he does not take up the claim.
ALSO GROWS
mashchit: One who brings destruction.
מַשְׁחִית
This form makes ruin visible as something that can be brought about, matching the kinsman’s fear of harming his inheritance.
shiḥet: A form of the verb meaning to ruin or corrupt.
שִׁחֵת
It carries the same root sense of damage that underlies his concern.
THE PATTERN
Redemption is the act of a claimant taking responsibility to reclaim what has been lost, sold, or held in bondage.
Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments:If thy brother be waxen poor, and hath sold away some of his possession, and if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother sold.To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.THE THREAD
If thy brother be waxen poor, and hath sold away some of his possession, and if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother sold.Leviticus uses the same root, גאל (ga’al, reclaim as kin), for a relative recovering what was sold. That shared root sharpens the tension here: redemption joins kinship to taking up another’s claim, while this kinsman fears damage to his own inheritance.
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