World English Bible · The judges
Ruth 4
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Now went up to the and sat down there. Behold, the of whom spoke came by. said to him, "Come over here, friend, and sit down!" He came over, and sat down. took ten men of the , and said, "Sit down here," and they sat down. He said to the , ", who has come back out of the country of , is selling the parcel of land, which was our brother . I thought I should tell you, saying, 'Buy it before those who sit here, and before the of my people.' If you will it, it; but if you will not it, then tell me, that I may know. For there is no one to it besides you; and I am after you." He said, "I will it." Then said, "On the day you buy the field from the hand of , you must buy it also from the Moabitess, the wife of , to raise up the name of on his ." The said, "I can't it for myself, lest I endanger my own . Take my right of for yourself; for I can't it." Now this was the custom in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning exchanging, to confirm all things: a man took off his , and gave it to his neighbor; and this was of formalizing transactions in Israel. 8So the said to , "Buy it for yourself," then he took off his . said to the and to all the people, "You are today, that I have bought all that was , and all that was and , from the hand of . Moreover, the Moabitess, the wife of , I have purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of on his , that the name of may not from among his brothers and from the of his place. You are today." All the people who were in the , and the , said, "We are . May make the woman who has come into your house like and like , which both built the ; and treat you worthily in , and be famous in . Let your house be like the house of , whom bore to Judah, of the which will give you by this young woman." So took and she became his wife; and he went in to her, and enabled her to conceive, and she bore a son. The women said to , " be , who has not left you today without a . Let his name be famous in Israel. 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 took the child, laid him in her , and became nurse to him. The women, her neighbors, gave him a name, saying, "A son is born to ". They named him . He is of , of . Now this is the history of the generations of : became of , and became of , and became of , and became of , and became of Salmon, and Salmon became of , and became of , and became of , and became of .
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The world at this moment · The judges, 1200 BC to 1050 BC ›
No central government and no standing army. The great empires are weak, which is precisely why Israel's troubles come from close neighbors: Moab, Ammon, Midian, and the newly arrived Philistines on the coast.
- Egypt
- Broken into competing power centres and no longer able to project force into Canaan. Its withdrawal is the single biggest reason this period has no imperial overlord.
- Mesopotamia
- Assyria exists but is dormant, hemmed in and looking east. The century that would have crushed a stateless Israel simply has not arrived yet.
- The coast
- The Philistines settle their five cities after arriving from the Aegean world, bringing Mycenaean-style pottery, a taste for pork, and an early advantage in ironworking. Further north the Phoenician ports of Tyre and Sidon start the trading expansion that will eventually give the alphabet to Greece.
- Further afield
- Greece has entered its dark age: the palaces are gone, Linear B is forgotten, and writing disappears from the Aegean for three centuries. In China the Zhou dynasty replaces the Shang in 1046 BC and issues the doctrine that heaven withdraws its mandate from unjust kings, an idea with an interesting resemblance to the book of Judges.