The man answered may be rendered as “the near relative replied” (New American Bible) or simply “he answered.” As in most instances there would be no doubt as to who is speaking.

I will give up my right to buy the field is literally in Hebrew “I cannot redeem for myself.” This could also be rendered as “I cannot help out as a relative” or “I cannot do my duty as a relative.” It may even be possible to employ a more specific rendering such as “I cannot take Ruth as a wife” or “I cannot buy the field.” This will depend largely upon the expressions which have been used for “redemption” in earlier contexts.

Because it would mean that my own children would not inherit it is somewhat more explicit than the Hebrew text itself, “in order that I may not ruin my own inheritance.” Compare also New English Bible “for I should risk losing my own patrimony,” and Moffatt “for fear of injuring my own inheritance.” It is also possible to translate simply as “because I would impoverish myself,” “because I would make myself poor,” or “because I myself would then become poor.”

You buy it reflects the Hebrew “take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem.” This phrase presents a number of difficulties in some languages and thus requires considerable restructuring; for example, “you buy the field just as I would have bought it but cannot,” “you can now buy the field though I cannot,” or “you yourself do what I cannot do, that is, you buy the field.”

I would rather not may be rendered as “I do not wish to buy the field” or “I prefer not to buy the field.”

Quoted with permission from de Waard, Jan and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Ruth. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1978, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .