And it will be in the days of the judging of the judges, and there will be a famine in the land. And a man from the house of bread of Judah will go to sojourn in the field of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons.

And they two will go till they came to the house of bread. And it will be as they came to the house of bread, and all the city will be moved at them, and they will say, Is this Naomi?

And she will say, Shall I find favor in thine eyes, my lord? For thou didst comfort me, and that thou spakest to the heart of thy servant, and shall I not be as one of thy servants?

Now, in earlier times this was the way in Israel when property was taken over by a near relation, or when there was a change of owner. To make the exchange certain one man took off his shoe and gave it to the other; and this was a witness in Israel.

Then said all the people who were in the gate, and the elders - Witnesses!, - Yahweh grant the woman who is coming into thy house, to be as Rachel, and as Leah, which two of them did build the house of Israel. Do thou bravely, then, in Ephrathah, and proclaim thou a name in Bethlehem,

and let thy house be as the house of Pharez (whom Tamar bare to Judah), of the seed which Jehovah doth give to thee of this young woman.'

He will be a giver of new life to you, and your comforter when you are old, for your daughter-in-law, who, in her love for you, is better than seven sons, has given birth to him.