What Does Ruth 2:1 Mean?
And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband, a mighty man of strength, of the family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband’s, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech; and his name was Boaz.THE KEY
The verse locates strength in relationship: a “kinsman” is a “known one,” and Boaz (בֹּעַז, Boʿaz, “in him is strength”) makes that capacity personal.
THE MEANING
The verse gives you a picture of support as a relationship with capacity: a known relation holds means, strength, and ability together. Its language places that capacity within a family connection, and Boaz’s name makes strength personal.
THE ROOT
מֹדָע
mōdaʿ
GROWS FROM
ידע
y-d-ʿ
To know, recognize, or become acquainted.
“kinsman of her husband” in this verse is mōdaʿ. “Kinsman” can sound like a position on a family tree alone. The Hebrew word grows from yada, “to know,” so kinship also carries recognition and familiarity: this is someone known within the web of belonging.
ALSO GROWS
yada: To know or perceive through encounter.
יָדַע
The kinsman is not only related by lineage; the word echoes the language of knowing someone.
daʿat: Knowledge or understanding.
דַּעַת
This branch shows the same root moving from knowing a person to the knowledge that relationship carries.
חַיִל
ḥayil
GROWS FROM
חיל
ḥ-y-l
Strength, force, or capacity.
“a mighty man of strength” in this verse is ḥayil. Hayil can name wealth, valor, strength, or ability; it does not reduce Boaz to money. The verse presents him as a person of substantial capacity, with material means and personal strength held in the same word.
ALSO GROWS
anshei ḥayil: Men of ability or capacity.
אַנְשֵׁי־חַיִל
In Exodus 18:21, the same word describes people able to carry responsibility, revealing that hayil includes competence.
eshet ḥayil: A woman of strength or valor.
אֵשֶׁת־חַיִל
In Proverbs 31:10, the same word is rendered “virtuous,” showing how English separates qualities Hebrew gathers under capacity.
בֹּעַז
Boʿaz
GROWS FROM
עזז
ʿ-z-z
To be strong or mighty.
Boaz is commonly understood through בּוֹ (bo, “in him”) and עֹז (ʿoz, “strength”): “in him is strength.” His name gives a personal nature to the capacity the verse describes.
ALSO GROWS
ʿoz: Strength or might.
עֹז
This is the strength element commonly heard in Boaz’s name, making the verse’s description resonate with the name itself.
ʿazuz: Mighty or powerful.
עָזוּז
This related form keeps the emphasis on strength as a quality embodied in someone.
THE PATTERN
Scripture’s language of strength describes usable capacity, means, competence, and character, not only force.
Moreover, you shall look out from all the people for men of strength, who stand in awe of God, men of truth, who hate plunder; and set such over them as rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.And now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you all that you say, for all the gate of my people knows that you are a woman of strength.Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the grip of his strength.THE THREAD
For the LORD perceives the way of the aligned, but the way of the wicked loses its way.Ruth’s “kinsman” (מֹדָע, mōdaʿ, “known one”) grows from ידע (yada, “know”), the same root used when Psalm 1:6 says the LORD “knoweth” the way. The shared root opens kinship into recognition: belonging includes being known.
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