Brothers dwell together: not necessarily in the same house, but on the same family property. Today’s English Version makes this clear, with “live on the same property.” In this instance brothers means blood brothers.

One of them dies and has no son: the Hebrew word is the normal one for son; but the Septuagint has “seed” (meaning descendants, of either sex). As quoted in the Gospels, Mark 13.19 has “has no child,” Matt 22.24 “has no children,” and Luke 20.28 “is childless.” It seems from the context that the meaning here is a male descendant, a son (so also Today’s English Version, Contemporary English Version, New International Version).

The wife of the dead: many languages will have a technical term such as “widow” for this woman, and say for example, “his widow,” or “the widow of the man”; but in other languages “the wife of the dead man” may be preferable.

Shall not be married outside the family to a stranger: the woman was not to be married off to a man belonging to a clan different from the one her dead husband belonged to. The main reason for this, it seems, was to keep property from passing on to another family. Shall not be married suggests that the woman would not take the initiative to choose a partner, but that her family would find a new husband for her. Today’s English Version follows this interpretation with “then his widow is not to be married to.” Contemporary English Version “his widow must not marry” appears to clash with Hebrew custom.

Go in to her, and take her as his wife: this is a normal way in Hebrew of speaking of possessing a woman sexually; in most languages there are more appropriate ways of saying this. In many languages “and take her as his wife” will be sufficient.

In the Hebrew text the noun “brother-in-law,” the verb perform the duty of a husband’s brother, and the noun brother’s wife in verse 7 are all cognates, that is, they come from the same Hebrew root; they appear only here and in Gen 38.8. For perform the duty of a husband’s brother, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh has “perform the levir‘s duty.” Today’s English Version combines both sentences with “it is the duty of the dead man’s brother to marry her.” This will be a helpful model for many translators.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .