^25:8Then the elders of his city must summon him and speak to him. If he persists, saying, “I don’t want to marry her,” ^25:9then his sister-in-law must approach him in view of the elders, remove his sandal from his foot, and spit in his face.¹⁷ She will then respond, “Thus may it be done to any man who does not maintain his brother’s family line!”¹⁸^25:10His family name will be referred to¹⁹ in Israel as “the family²⁰ of the one whose sandal was removed.”²¹

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Footnotes

17 The removal of the sandal was likely symbolic of the relinquishment by the man of any claim to his dead brother’s estate since the sandal was associated with the soil or land (cf. Ruth 4:7–8). Spitting in the face was a sign of utmost disgust or disdain, an emotion the rejected widow would feel toward her uncooperative brother-in-law (cf. Num 12:14; Lev 15:8). See W. Bailey, 2:.
18 Heb “build the house of his brother”; “refuses to give his brother a descendant”; “refuses to raise up a son for his brother.”
19 Heb “called,” i.e., “known as.”
20 Heb “house.”
21 Cf. , “The Family of the Unsandaled.”

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him, and if he persists, saying, ‘I do not wish to take her,’ then his brother’s wife shall go up to him in the presence of the elders and pull his sandal off his foot and spit in his face. And she shall answer and say, ‘So shall it be done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house.’ And the name of his house shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him who had his sandal pulled off.’

NIVNew International Version (2011)

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,” his brother’s widow shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, take off one of his sandals, spit in his face and say, “This is what is done to the man who will not build up his brother’s family line.” That man’s line shall be known in Israel as The Family of the Unsandaled.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

The elders of his city will summon him and speak with him. If he persists and says, ‘I don’t want to marry her,’ then his sister-in-law will go up to him in the sight of the elders, remove his sandal from his foot, and spit in his face. Then she will declare, ‘This is what is done to a man who will not build up his brother’s house.’ And his family name in Israel will be ‘The house of the man whose sandal was removed.’

NLTNew Living Translation

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.’ Ever afterward in Israel his family will be referred to as ‘the family of the man whose sandal was pulled off’!

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

Then the elders of his town shall summon him and speak to him, and if he persists and says, ‘I do not desire to 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 and she shall say, ‘This is how it is done to the man who does not build the house of his brother.’ And his family shall be called in Israel, ‘The house where the sandal was pulled off.’

KJV 1900King James Version

Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak unto him: and if he stand to it, and say, I like not to take her; Then shall his brother’s wife come unto him in the presence of the elders, and loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face, and shall answer and say, So shall it be done unto that man that will not build up his brother’s house. And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that hath his shoe loosed.

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