⁸ Then Judah said to Onan, “Sleep with your brother’s wife and fulfill your duty to her as a brother-in-law to raise up offspring for your brother.”^(A)

Marriage at the Resurrection^(A)

²³ That same day the Sadducees,^(B) who say there is no resurrection,^(C) came to him with a question. ²⁴ “Teacher,” they said, “Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him.^{(D) 25} Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. ²⁶ The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. ²⁷ Finally, the woman died.

⁵ Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the land from Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite,^(A) the^[a] dead man’s widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property.”^(B)

⁶ At this, the guardian-redeemer said, “Then I cannot redeem^(C) it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it.”^(D)

⁷ (Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption^(E) and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal^(F) and gave it to the other. This was the method of legalizing transactions^(G) in Israel.)^(H)

⁸ So the guardian-redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it yourself.” And he removed his sandal.^(I)

⁹ Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, “Today you are witnesses^(J) that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelek, Kilion and Mahlon. ¹⁰ I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite,^(K) Mahlon’s widow, as my wife,^(L) in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from his hometown.^(M) Today you are witnesses!^(N)”

¹¹ Then the elders and all the people at the gate^(O) said, “We are witnesses.^(P) May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah,^(Q) who together built up the family of Israel. May you have standing in Ephrathah^(R) and be famous in Bethlehem.^(S)

⁵ If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband’s brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her.^{(A) 6} The first son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel.^(B)

⁷ However, if a man does not want to marry his brother’s wife,^(C) she shall go to the elders at the town gate^(D) and say, “My husband’s brother refuses to carry on his brother’s name in Israel. He will not fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to me.”^{(E) 8} Then the elders of his town shall summon him and talk to him. If he persists in saying, “I do not want to marry her,” ⁹ his brother’s widow shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, take off one of his sandals,^(F) spit in his face^(G) and say, “This is what is done to the man who will not build up his brother’s family line.” ¹⁰ That man’s line shall be known in Israel as The Family of the Unsandaled.

¹¹ But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands?^(A)

¹⁶ “‘Do not have sexual relations with your brother’s wife;^(A) that would dishonor your brother.

⁸ Every daughter who inherits land in any Israelite tribe must marry someone in her father’s tribal clan,^(A) so that every Israelite will possess the inheritance of their ancestors. ⁹ No inheritance may pass from one tribe to another, for each Israelite tribe is to keep the land it inherits.”