What Does Deuteronomy 25:5 Mean in the King James?
If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband’s brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband’s brother unto her.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The Hebrew root for “husband’s brother” also names the duty he performs, binding kinship and obligation together in one word.
THE MEANING
When a man dies without a child, this verse places a concrete obligation on his brother: the widow is not to marry outside the family, and he is to take her as his wife and fulfill the brother-in-law’s duty. The bond of kinship continues as a responsibility after death.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a man’s death ends his family’s obligation to his widow and the future of his line.
THE ROOT
וְיִבְּמָהּ
veyibbemah
GROWS FROM
יבם
y-b-m
To fulfill the brother-in-law’s duty by marrying a deceased brother’s widow.
“perform the duty of a husband’s brother” in this verse is veyibbemah. The Hebrew root behind “husband’s brother” also forms the verb translated “perform the duty.” English separates the relationship from the action, while the Hebrew word ties the obligation to the kinship itself.
ALSO GROWS
yavam: A husband’s brother; a brother-in-law.
יָבָם
The same root names the brother whose kinship carries the duty in this verse.
yevamah: A deceased man’s widow in relation to his brother.
יְבָמָה
The widow’s Hebrew designation shares the root that names the brother’s obligation.
yibbum: Levirate marriage: a brother marrying his deceased brother’s widow.
יִבּוּם
This name for the practice gathers the relationship and its enacted duty under the same root.
THE PATTERN
Within this family obligation, a man’s death does not erase the surviving kin’s responsibility to carry his name and line forward.
And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother’s wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother.And it shall be, that the firstborn which she beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother which is dead, that his name be not put out of Israel.Then said Boaz, What day thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance.THE THREAD
And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother’s wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother.The Hebrew verb translated “marry her” comes from the same root יבם (y-b-m) as “perform the duty” here. Genesis makes explicit what that shared root carries: the brother’s marriage is bound to raising seed for the deceased.
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