Early that day, Boaz went to the city gate to meet with the other male relative before the town elders. (The relative is not named. Boaz addresses him as "ploni almoni" literally "so and so".) The unnamed relative, unwilling to jeopardize the inheritance of his own estate by marrying Ruth, relinquishes his right of redemption, thus allowing Boaz to marry Ruth. They transfer the property and thus redeem it, and they ratify the redemption by the nearer kinsman taking off his shoe and handing it over to Boaz. Ruth 4:7 notes for later generations that: