⁷ But if the man doesn’t want to marry his sister-in-law, she is to go to the elders at the city gate^(A) and say, “My brother-in-law refuses to preserve his brother’s name in Israel. He isn’t willing to perform the duty of a brother-in-law for me.”

² He would get up early and stand beside the road leading to the city gate.^(A) Whenever anyone had a grievance to bring before the king for settlement, Absalom called out to him and asked, ‘What city are you from? ’ If he replied, ‘Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel,’

⁶ He set military commanders over the people and gathered the people in the square of the city gate. Then he encouraged them,^[a](A) saying,