Passage

Ruth 4.17

Book: Ruth · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

15. And he shall be unto thee a restorer of life, and a nourisher of thine old age, for thy daughter-in-law, who loveth thee, who is better to thee than seven sons, hath borne him. 16. And Naomi took the child, and laid it in her bosom, and became nurse unto it.

17. And the women her neighbors gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

Now these are the generations of Perez: Perez begat Hezron, 19. and Hezron begat Ram, and Ram begat Amminadab, (Ruth 4:15-19, ASV)

WEB

15. He shall be to you a restorer of life, and sustain you in your old age, for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.” 16. Naomi took the child, and laid him in her bosom, and became nurse to it.

17. The women, her neighbors, gave him a name, saying, “A son is born to Naomi”. They named him Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

Now this is the history of the generations of Perez: Perez became the father of Hezron, 19. and Hezron became the father of Ram, and Ram became the father of Amminadab, (Ruth 4:15-19, WEB)

KJV

15. And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life, and a nourisher of thine old age: for thy daughter in law, which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons, hath born him. ^{a nourisher of: Heb. to nourish} ^{thine: Heb. thy gray hairs} 16. And Naomi took the child, and laid it in her bosom, and became nurse unto it.

17. And the women her neighbours gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

Now these are the generations of Pharez: Pharez begat Hezron, 19. And Hezron begat Ram, and Ram begat Amminadab, (Ruth 4:15-19, KJV)

YLT

15. and he hath been to thee for a restorer of life, and for a nourisher of thine old age, for thy daughter-in-law who hath loved thee, who is better to thee than seven sons, hath borne him.' 16. And Naomi taketh the lad, and layeth him in her bosom, and is to him for a nurse;

17. and the neighbouring women give to him a name, saying, 'There hath been a son born to Naomi,' and they call his name Obed; he [is] father of Jesse, father of David.

And these are genealogies of Pharez: Pharez begat Hezron, 19. and Hezron begat Ram, and Ram begat Amminidab, (Ruth 4:15-19, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: the narrator, reporting the words of the neighbor women
Audience: Israelite readers who knew of David (Ruth 4:17)
Location: Bethlehem
Time period: the days when the judges judged (Ruth 1:1), c. 1100 BC, at the naming of Obed; the closing note looks ahead to Jesse and David

Theological reading

"There is a son born to Naomi," the neighbor women say, and they name him Obed. The child is counted to Naomi's family, the line of Elimelech and Mahlon whose name Boaz undertook to raise up (Ruth 4:10), though he is the son of Boaz and Ruth (Ruth 4:13).

The narrator then steps outside the story: "he is the father of Jesse, the father of David." This is the first time David is named in the book, and it reframes everything before it. The famine, the deaths in Moab, Ruth's loyalty, the gleaning that seemed to be chance and the proceedings at the gate were the road to Israel's king.

David's great-grandmother was a Moabite, and Matthew keeps her in the line that leads to Jesus Christ: "Boaz begat Obed of Ruth" (Matthew 1:5). The codex uses the verse on Gentile inclusion in Gentiles Cannot Be Saved Objection Defeater, and on legal descent in the Davidic line in Davidic Inheritance Physical Seed Objection Defeater.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word.

H8034 - shem, shem, Strong's H8034
H0001 - ab, ab, Strong's H0001
H1121 - ben, ben, Strong's H1121

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Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.