And if the man does not wish to take his brother's wife, then his brother's wife shall (A)go 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.’ Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him, and if he persists, saying, (B)‘I do not wish to take her,’ then his brother's wife shall go up to him in the presence of the elders and (C)pull his sandal off his foot and (D)spit in his face. And she shall answer and say, ‘So shall it be done to the man who does not (E)build up his brother's house.’ 10 And the name of his house[a] shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him who had his sandal pulled off.’

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Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 25:10 Hebrew its name

However, if a man does not want to marry his brother’s wife,(A) she shall go to the elders at the town gate(B) and say, “My husband’s brother refuses to carry on his brother’s name in Israel. He will not fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to me.”(C) 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,(D) spit in his face(E) and say, “This is what is done to the man who will not build up his brother’s family line.” 10 That man’s line shall be known in Israel as The Family of the Unsandaled.

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