And may your house become like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring the LORD will give you by this young woman.”
Parallel translations
- WEB Let your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, of the offspring which Yahweh will give you by this young woman.”
- KJV And let thy house be like the house of Pharez, whom Tamar bare unto Judah, of the seed which the LORD shall give thee of this young woman.
- NKJV May your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring which the Lord will give you from this young woman.”
- NASB Moreover, may your house be like the house of Perez whom Tamar bore to Judah, through the descendants whom the Lord will give you by this young woman.”
- NLT And may the Lord give you descendants by this young woman who will be like those of our ancestor Perez, the son of Tamar and Judah.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The people pray that Boaz's household would flourish like that of Perez, son of Judah and Tamar. This links the marriage to Judah's royal line.
Overview
The reference to Perez, born to Tamar through an irregular yet redemptive episode (Gen. 38), connects Boaz and Ruth to the tribe of Judah and its promised scepter (Gen. 49:10). Like Tamar, Ruth is an outsider whom God graciously incorporates into His redemptive purposes. The blessing foreshadows the genealogy of Christ, in which both Tamar and Ruth are named (Matt. 1:3, 5).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Gen 38:29But when he pulled his hand back and his brother came out, she said, “You have broken out first!” So he was named Perez.
- 1 Sam 2:20And Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, saying, “May the LORD give you children by this woman in place of the one she dedicated to the LORD.” Then they would go home.
- 1 Chr 2:4Tamar, Judah’s daughter-in-law, bore to him Perez and Zerah. Judah had five sons in all.
- Gen 46:12The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah; but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. The sons of Perez: Hezron and Hamul.
- Matt 1:3Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram.
- Num 26:20–22These were the descendants of Judah by their clans: The Shelanite clan from Shelah, the Perezite clan from Perez, and the Zerahite clan from Zerah.
- Ruth 4:18Now these are the generations of Perez: Perez was the father of Hezron,
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Boaz the kinsman-redeemer who buys back the destitute and takes a bride foreshadows Christ, our Redeemer who pays the price to make a people his own; and from Ruth's line comes David, and David's greater Son.
How Ruth 4:12 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.