“When brothers dwell together and one of them dies without a son, the widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband’s brother is to take her as his wife and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law for her.”
Deuteronomy 25:5 (BSB)
Context Reading
3He may receive no more than forty lashes, lest your brother be beaten any more than that and be degraded in your sight. 4Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain. 5When brothers dwell together and one of them dies without a son, the widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband’s brother is to take her as his wife and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law for her. 6The first son she bears will carry on the name of the dead brother, so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel. 7But if the man does not want to marry his brother’s widow, she is to go to the elders at the city gate and say, “My husband’s brother refuses to preserve his brother’s name in Israel. He is not willing to perform the duty of a brother-in-law for me.”