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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”

“If two brothers are living together on the same property and one of them dies without a son, his widow may not be married to anyone from outside the family. Instead, her husband’s brother should marry her and have intercourse with her to fulfill the duties of a brother-in-law. The first son she bears to him will be considered the son of the dead brother, so that his name will not be forgotten in Israel.

“But if the man refuses to marry his brother’s widow, she must go to the town gate and say to the elders assembled there, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to preserve his brother’s name in Israel—he refuses to fulfill the duties of a brother-in-law by marrying me.’ The elders of the town will then summon him and talk with him. If he still refuses and says, ‘I don’t want to marry her,’ the widow must walk over to him in the presence of the elders, pull his sandal from his foot, and spit in his face. Then she must declare, ‘This is what happens to a man who refuses to provide his brother with children.’ 10 Ever afterward in Israel his family will be referred to as ‘the family of the man whose sandal was pulled off’!

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