Deuteronomy 25:5-8

English Standard Version

Laws Concerning Levirate Marriage

^5 (A)“If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her ^(B)husband's brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her. ⁶ And the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, that ^(C)his name may not be blotted out of Israel. ⁷ And if the man does not wish to take his brother's wife, then his brother's wife shall ^(D)go up to the gate to the elders and say, ‘My husband's brother refuses to perpetuate his brother's name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband's brother to me.’ ⁸ Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him, and if he persists, saying, ^(E)‘I do not wish to take her,’