⁶ Judah got a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.^{(A) 7} But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the Lord’s sight;^(B) so the Lord put him to death.^(C)

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.”^{(D) 9} But Onan knew that the child would not be his; so whenever he slept with his brother’s wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from providing offspring for his brother. ¹⁰ What he did was wicked in the Lord’s sight; so the Lord put him to death also.^(E)

¹¹ Judah then said to his daughter-in-law^(F) Tamar,^(G) “Live as a widow in your father’s household^(H) until my son Shelah^(I) grows up.”^(J) For he thought, “He may die too, just like his brothers.” So Tamar went to live in her father’s household.

²³ “‘The land^(A) must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine^(B) and you reside in my land as foreigners^(C) and strangers. ²⁴ Throughout the land that you hold as a possession, you must provide for the redemption^(D) of the land.

²⁵ “‘If one of your fellow Israelites becomes poor and sells some of their property, their nearest relative^(E) is to come and redeem^(F) what they have sold. ²⁶ If, however, there is no one to redeem it for them but later on they prosper^(G) and acquire sufficient means to redeem it themselves, ²⁷ they are to determine the value for the years^(H) since they sold it and refund the balance to the one to whom they sold it; they can then go back to their own property.^{(I) 28} But if they do not acquire the means to repay, what was sold will remain in the possession of the buyer until the Year of Jubilee. It will be returned^(J) in the Jubilee, and they can then go back to their property.^(K)

²⁹ “‘Anyone who sells a house in a walled city retains the right of redemption a full year after its sale. During that time the seller may redeem it. ³⁰ If it is not redeemed before a full year has passed, the house in the walled city shall belong permanently to the buyer and the buyer’s descendants. It is not to be returned in the Jubilee. ³¹ But houses in villages without walls around them are to be considered as belonging to the open country. They can be redeemed, and they are to be returned in the Jubilee.

³² “‘The Levites always have the right to redeem their houses in the Levitical towns,^(L) which they possess. ³³ So the property of the Levites is redeemable—that is, a house sold in any town they hold—and is to be returned in the Jubilee, because the houses in the towns of the Levites are their property among the Israelites. ³⁴ But the pastureland belonging to their towns must not be sold; it is their permanent possession.^(M)

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.