יָבַם
ya.vam
“be brother-in-law”
Definition
to marry a (deceased) brother's widow
a primitive root of doubtful meaning; used only as a denominative from H2993 (יָבָם);
- (Piel) to perform levirate marriage, perform the duty of a brother-in-law 1a) the duty due to a brother who died childless - to marry his widow and have a son for his name
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logos (G3056)
word, saying, account
Grammar & Morphology
Verb
H:V
Hebrew Verb
Occurrences
יָבַם appears 3 times in the Old Testament.
Distribution by Book
Key Passages
When brothers dwell together and one of them dies without a son, the widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband’s brother is to take her as his wife and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law for her.
But if the man does not want to marry his brother’s widow, she is to go to the elders at the city gate and say, “My husband’s brother refuses to preserve his brother’s name in Israel. He is not willing to perform the duty of a brother-in-law for me.”
Then Judah said to Onan, “Sleep with your brother’s wife. Perform your duty as her brother-in-law and raise up offspring for your brother.”
Lexicon data from STEPBible.org (Tyndale House, Cambridge) under CC BY 4.0 license.