כִּי-יֵשְׁבוּ אַחִים יַחְדָּו, וּמֵת אַחַד מֵהֶם וּבֵן אֵין-לוֹ--לֹא-תִהְיֶה אֵשֶׁת-הַמֵּת הַחוּצָה, לְאִישׁ זָר: יְבָמָהּ יָבֹא עָלֶיהָ, וּלְקָחָהּ לוֹ לְאִשָּׁה וְיִבְּמָהּ.
If brothers live together, and one of them dies, and has no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry outside to a stranger; her husband’s brother shall go in to her, and take her to him for a wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her.
[Translation by Rabbi Steve Greenberg]
Suggested Discussion Questions:
1. In Leviticus 18:16 there is a prohibition of sleeping with your brother's wife, literally, uncovering her nakedness. How then might you explain this rule in Deuteronomy?
2. Putting both rules together, can you better understand the story in Genesis 38:8-10?
Time Period: Biblical (early ancestors to 165 BCE)