Takes: see verse 14 and 18.17, 18.

Some have seen in this verse a contradiction of the law given in Deuteronomy 25.5, which allows the brother of a dead man to marry his brother’s widow. But in this case the brother is still alive, and so this is a case of adultery. If necessary one may add the implicit information “while he [the brother] is still alive.”

Impurity: this word indicates both ritual uncleanness and the idea of abhorrence, or of something to be avoided.

Childless: see verse 20.

Quoted with permission from Péter-Contesse, René and Ellington, John. A Handbook on Leviticus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1990. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .