Deuteronomy 1:22

1:22 So all of you approached me and said, “Let’s send some men ahead of us to scout out the land and bring us back word as to how we should attack it and what the cities are like there.”

Deuteronomy 24:2

24:2 When she has left him she may go and become someone else’s wife.

Deuteronomy 25:5

Respect for the Sanctity of Others

25:5 If brothers live together and one of them dies without having a son, the dead man’s wife must not remarry someone outside the family. Instead, her late husband’s brother must go to her, marry her, and perform the duty of a brother-in-law.

Deuteronomy 28:34

28:34 You will go insane from seeing all this.

Deuteronomy 31:7

31:7 Then Moses called out to Joshua in the presence of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you will accompany these people to the land that the Lord promised to give their ancestors, and you will enable them to inherit it.

tn Heb “his house.”

tn Heb “take her as wife”; NRSV “taking her in marriage.”

sn This is the so-called “levirate” custom (from the Latin term levir, “brother-in-law”), an ancient provision whereby a man who died without male descendants to carry on his name could have a son by proxy, that is, through a surviving brother who would marry his widow and whose first son would then be attributed to the brother who had died. This is the only reference to this practice in an OT legal text but it is illustrated in the story of Judah and his sons (Gen 38) and possibly in the account of Ruth and Boaz (Ruth 2:8; 3:12; 4:6).

tn The Hebrew text includes “and said to him.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 20).