TO REFUSE — flatly, with the will; the verb exists only in the intensive stem, so Hebrew has no mild way to say it. ⭐ It is Pharaoh's verb through the plagues — he refuses to let the people go (Exodus 7:14, already on these pages) — and Joseph's when he refuses Potiphar's wife (Genesis 39:8), Jacob's when he refuses comfort for Joseph (37:35), and Rachel's at Jeremiah 31:15 (31:14 in the Hebrew numbering), she refuses to be comforted — all already on these pages. At Deuteronomy 25:7 it is the widow's word for her brother-in-law at the gate, my husband's brother refuses, me'en yevami, and the law gives her the last word on it. ⚠ Edom refused Israel passage with it (Numbers 20:21), Balaam reported that Jehovah refused him (22:13), both already on these pages; and the people refused Samuel's warning about a king (1 Samuel 8:19, not yet on these pages) — the verb of a door shut. → first discussed at Deut 25:7