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“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”

Levirate Marriage

“When two brothers are living together and one of them dies without leaving a son, his widow must not be married outside the family to a foreigner. Instead, the brother-in-law must go to her, take her as his wife, and by doing so perform the duty of a brother-in-law. The firstborn whom she will bear will continue the name of the dead brother, so his name will not be erased from Israel. But if the man does not want to marry his brother’s widow, then she[a] must go to the elders at the city gate and declare, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to perform the duty of a brother-in-law in order to preserve the name of his brother in Israel. He is not willing to perform the duty of a brother-in-law.’ Then the elders of the city are to summon him and speak with him. If he insists on saying, ‘I don’t want to marry her,’ then she is to approach her brother-in-law in the presence of the elders, remove his sandal, spit in his face, and say in response, ‘May this be done to the man who does not preserve the lineage[b] of his brother.’ 10 Then his family name in Israel will be known as ‘the family of the one whose sandal was removed.’”

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Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 25:7 Lit. the brother’s wife
  2. Deuteronomy 25:9 Lit. house