Deuteronomy 25:5–10

Laws Concerning Levirate Marriage

^5e“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 ^fhusband’s brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. ⁶And the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, that ^ghis name may not be blotted out of Israel. ⁷And if the man does not wish to take his brother’s wife, then his brother’s wife shall ^hgo 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.’ ⁸Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him, and if he persists, saying, ⁱ‘I do not wish to take her,’ ⁹then his brother’s wife shall go up to him in the presence of the elders and ^jpull his sandal off his foot and ^kspit in his face. And she shall answer and say, ‘So shall it be done to the man who does not ^lbuild up his brother’s house.’ ¹⁰And the name of his house¹ shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him who had his sandal pulled off.’