Deuteronomy 25:8

And immediately, they shall summon him to be sent, and they shall question him. If he responds, ‘I am not willing to accept her as a wife,’

Catholic Public Domain Version

In The King 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;

In Context

7But if he is not willing to take his brother’s wife, who by law must go to him, the woman shall go to the gate of the city, and she shall call upon those greater by birth, and she shall say: ‘The brother of my husband is not willing to raise up his brother’s name in Israel; nor will he join with me.’

9then the woman shall approach him in the sight of the elders, and she shall remove his shoe from his foot, and she shall spit in his face, and she shall say: ‘So shall it be done to the man who was not willing to build up his brother’s house.’

Read all of Deuteronomy 25

Cross References

Ruth 4:6He answered, “I yield my right of kinship, for I am obliged not to cut off the posterity of my own family. You may make use of my privilege, which I freely declare I will forego.”

Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 25:6-13

Marriage of a Brother's Wife. ( b. c. 1451.) 5 If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother unto her. 6 And it shall be, that the firstborn which she beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother which is dead, that his name be not put out of Israel. 7 And if the man like not to take his brother's wife, then let… Read the whole commentary →

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