Preserving the Family Line

⁵ “When brothers live on the same property^[a] and one of them dies without a son, the wife of the dead man may not marry a stranger outside the family. Her brother-in-law is to take her as his wife, have sexual relations with her, and perform the duty of a brother-in-law for her.

⁵ Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the land from Naomi, you will also acquire^[a] Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the deceased man, to perpetuate the man’s name on his property.”^(A)