Laws Concerning Levirate Marriage

(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. 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. 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.’ 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,’ then his brother's wife shall go up to him in the presence of the elders and (F)pull his sandal off his foot and (G)spit in his face. And she shall answer and say, ‘So shall it be done to the man who does not (H)build up his brother's house.’ 10 And the name of his house[a] shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him who had his sandal pulled off.’

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Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 25:10 Hebrew its name

“When brothers dwell together and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not become the wife of a man of another family;[a] her brother-in-law shall have sex with her,[b] and he shall take her to himself[c] as a wife, and he shall perform his duty as a brother-in-law with respect to her. And then the firstborn that she bears shall represent his dead brother,[d] so that his name is not blotted out from Israel. But if the man does not want to take his sister-in-law, then his sister-in-law shall go up to the gate, to the elders, and she shall say, ‘My brother-in-law refused to perpetuate his brother’s name[e] in Israel, for he is not willing to marry me.’[f] Then the elders of his town shall summon him and speak to him, and if he persists and says, ‘I do not desire to[g] marry her’ then his sister-in-law shall go near him before the eyes of the elders, and she shall pull off his sandal from his foot, and she shall spit in his face, and she shall declare[h] and she shall say, ‘This is how it is done to the man who does not build the house of his brother.’ 10 And his family[i] shall be called in Israel, ‘The house where the sandal was pulled off.’[j]

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Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 25:5 Others: “strange man,” “man outside the family” (NEB)
  2. Deuteronomy 25:5 Literally “shall go to her”
  3. Deuteronomy 25:5 Literally “to/for him”
  4. Deuteronomy 25:6 Literally “he shall stand upon the name of his brother the deceased”
  5. Deuteronomy 25:7 Literally “to cause a name to stand for his brother”
  6. Deuteronomy 25:7 Literally “to consummate the marriage with the widow of a his brother”
  7. Deuteronomy 25:8 Literally “I do not delight in”
  8. Deuteronomy 25:9 Literally “respond/answer”
  9. Deuteronomy 25:10 Literally “name”
  10. Deuteronomy 25:10 Or “the house of the man whose sandal was pulled off”