Genesis 38: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

Judah leaves his brothers, settles near Hirah of Adullam, marries the daughter of a Canaanite named Shuah, and has three sons: Er, Onan, and Shelah. Er marries Tamar and is put to death by the LORD for his wickedness; Onan refuses to produce children for his brother and is put to death as well, and Judah sends Tamar back to her father's house until Shelah grows up. After Judah's wife dies, Tamar covers herself with a veil and sits by the road to Timnath, and Judah, taking her for a prostitute, sleeps with her and leaves his seal, cord, and staff as a pledge. When Tamar is found pregnant and Judah orders her burned, she produces the pledge items, and he says she has been more righteous than he; she then gives birth to twins, Pharez and Zarah.

Claim by Claim

1. 38:1
   • This happened at that time.
   • Judah went down away from his brothers.
   • Judah turned aside to a man of Adullam.
   • The Adullamite's name was Hirah.
2. 38:2
   • Judah saw there the daughter of a Canaanite man.
   • The Canaanite man's name was Shua.
   • Judah took her.
   • Judah went in to her.
3. 38:3
   • She conceived.
   • She bore a son.
   • He named the son Er.
4. 38:4
   • She conceived again.
   • She bore a son.
   • She named the son Onan.
5. 38:5
   • She bore yet another son.
   • She named the son Shelah.
   • He was at Chezib when she bore him.
6. 38:6
   • Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn.
   • The wife's name was Tamar.
7. 38:7
   • Er was Judah's firstborn.
   • Er was wicked in the sight of the LORD.
   • The LORD put Er to death.
8. 38:8
   • Judah spoke to Onan.
   • Judah told Onan to go in to his brother's wife.
   • Judah told Onan to perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her.
   • Judah told Onan to raise up offspring for his brother.
9. 38:9
   • Onan knew the offspring would not be his.
   • Whenever Onan went in to his brother's wife, he spilled his seed on the ground.
   • Onan did this so as not to give offspring to his brother.
10. 38:10
    • What Onan did was evil in the sight of the LORD.
    • The LORD put Onan to death also.
11. 38:11
    • Judah spoke to Tamar his daughter-in-law.
    • Judah told Tamar to remain a widow in her father's house.
    • Judah told her to remain so until his son Shelah grew up.
    • Judah said this because he thought Shelah might die also, as his brothers had.
    • Tamar went.
    • Tamar dwelt in her father's house.
12. 38:12
    • A long time passed.
    • The daughter of Shua, Judah's wife, died.
    • Judah was comforted after mourning.
    • Judah went up to his sheepshearers at Timnah.
    • Hirah his friend the Adullamite went with him.
13. 38:13
    • Tamar was told that her father-in-law was going up to Timnah to shear his sheep.
14. 38:14
    • Tamar removed her widow's garments from herself.
    • Tamar covered herself with a veil.
    • Tamar wrapped herself so as not to be recognized.
    • Tamar sat at the opening of Enaim, which may be a place name or may mean an open place along the road.
    • That place was on the way to Timnah.
    • Tamar did this because she saw that Shelah had grown up.
    • Tamar had not been given to Shelah as a wife.
15. 38:15
    • Judah saw her.
    • Judah reckoned her to be a prostitute.
    • He thought so because she had covered her face.
16. 38:16
    • Judah turned aside to her by the road.
    • Judah asked her to let him come in to her.
    • Judah did not know she was his daughter-in-law.
    • She asked what he would give her for coming in to her.
17. 38:17
    • Judah said he would send her a young goat from the flock.
    • She said he must give a pledge until he sent it.
18. 38:18
    • Judah asked what pledge he should give her.
    • She named his seal, his cord, and the staff in his hand.
    • Judah gave them to her.
    • Judah came in to her.
    • She conceived by him.
19. 38:19
    • She arose.
    • She went away.
    • She removed her veil from herself.
    • She put on her widow's garments.
20. 38:20
    • Judah sent the young goat by the hand of his friend the Adullamite.
    • The purpose was to take back the pledge from the woman's hand.
    • The Adullamite did not find her.
21. 38:21
    • The Adullamite asked the men of her place.
    • He asked where the cult prostitute was who had been at Enaim by the road.
    • The men said no cult prostitute had been in that place.
22. 38:22
    • The Adullamite returned to Judah.
    • He said he did not find her.
    • He said the men of the place had said no cult prostitute had been there.
23. 38:23
    • Judah said to let her keep the pledge.
    • Judah said this lest they become an object of contempt.
    • Judah said he had sent the young goat.
    • Judah said the Adullamite had not found her.
24. 38:24
    • About three months later Judah was told something.
    • The report said Tamar his daughter-in-law had played the harlot.
    • The report said she was pregnant by harlotry.
    • Judah said to bring her out.
    • Judah said she should be burned.
25. 38:25
    • She was being brought out.
    • She sent word to her father-in-law.
    • She said she was pregnant by the man to whom these items belonged.
    • She asked him to identify whose the seal, the cords, and the staff were.
26. 38:26
    • Judah recognized the items.
    • Judah said she was more righteous than he.
    • Judah said this was because he had not given her to Shelah his son.
    • Judah did not know her again.
27. 38:27
    • The time of her giving birth came.
    • There were twins in her womb.
28. 38:28
    • While she was giving birth, one of them put out a hand.
    • The midwife took a scarlet thread.
    • The midwife tied the scarlet thread on his hand.
    • The midwife said this one came out first.
29. 38:29
    • He drew his hand back.
    • His brother came out.
    • She said he had broken out in a breach upon himself.
    • His name was called Perez.
30. 38:30
    • Afterward his brother came out.
    • That brother had the scarlet thread on his hand.
    • His name was called Zerah.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

38:1

Judah is one of Jacob's twelve sons. "Left his brothers" means he moved away from the family's camp and settled among Canaanites in the lower hill country; Adullam was a town roughly fifteen miles southwest of Bethlehem.

38:2

In the Hebrew, Shuah is the name of the Canaanite father, not of the daughter, Judah's wife is never named in the story (see verse 12, "the daughter of Shuah"). The Canaanites were the peoples already living in the land; Abraham's family had gone to some lengths to avoid marrying into them.

38:5

Chezib was a town in the same district, probably the place called Achzib elsewhere. The Hebrew "he was at Chezib" is unclear about who is meant; it most likely means Judah was away there at the time of the birth.

38:6

Marriages were arranged by the father, not the son. Judah chooses Tamar, and neither Er nor Tamar is described as having any say in it.

38:7

LORD printed in capitals stands for God's personal name in Hebrew, four letters usually written YHWH, which Jewish tradition avoided pronouncing aloud. The text never says what Er's wickedness was.

38:8

This is the custom later written into Israelite law as levirate marriage: if a man died without a son, his brother was to marry the widow, and her first son counted legally as the dead man's child, inheriting his name and his share of the family land. "Do the duty of a brother-in-law" is a single Hebrew verb meaning exactly this obligation.

38:9

The point of Onan's refusal is inheritance. Any son born would count as Er's, not his, and would take Er's portion, including the double share due a firstborn. With no such heir, Onan as the eldest surviving son stood to gain that share himself.

38:11

A childless widow normally went back to her father's household for support, but she remained legally attached to her dead husband's family and was not free to marry outside it. By promising Shelah and then withholding him, Judah leaves Tamar bound and waiting with no way forward.

38:12

"Been comforted" means the set period of mourning had ended. Sheepshearing came once a year and was a large festive gathering with feasting and drink, not just farm work, which is why Judah travels to it with a friend. Timnath was a town in the hills.

38:14

The veil is a disguise that hides her face; veils were not the working dress of prostitutes, and the point is that Judah cannot see who she is. The Hebrew phrase behind "an open place" is ambiguous: it can be read as the place name "the entrance of Enaim" or as "the opening of the eyes," meaning an open spot or a fork in the road. Translators go both ways.

38:15

Judah's conclusion comes from the whole setting, not the veil alone: a woman sitting by herself at a roadside junction, face hidden, during shearing season, when men with money were traveling through.

38:16

"Go to, I pray thee" is old English for something like "Come on now, please." It is not a request to travel anywhere.

38:17

A young goat was a substantial payment, not a token gesture. A pledge was an object left as security, to be returned when the debt was paid.

38:18

A seal was a small engraved stone, worn on a cord around the neck, pressed into wet clay to mark documents and property as yours; a man's staff was often carved with distinctive marks. Together they identified their owner beyond dispute. Handing them over was like leaving your identity papers and signature as security.

38:21

The word used here is not the ordinary word for prostitute used in verse 15. It is qedeshah, "consecrated woman", a woman attached to a shrine. Hirah may be phrasing the question more respectably, or asking after a different kind of woman altogether; the Hebrew leaves it open.

38:23

The shame Judah fears is public ridicule: being known as the man who handed over his seal and staff and was never paid back, and who then went hunting for the woman.

38:24

Because Tamar was still pledged to Shelah, she counted as bound to Judah's household, so a pregnancy by another man was treated as unfaithfulness. As head of the family, Judah had authority to pass sentence. Burning was an unusually severe penalty, reserved in later Israelite law for a very few offenses.

38:25

"Discern, I pray thee" means "look closely, please." Tamar never says Judah's name. She sends back his own property and lets him identify it in front of everyone, which leaves him the choice of admitting it or lying about objects the whole household could recognize.

38:26

"More righteous than I" is legal language rather than a comment on character: she is in the right and he is in the wrong. Judah is conceding that she had a claim on him which he had refused to honor.

38:27

The King James word "travail" means the pains of giving birth.

38:28

Birth order carried legal weight, the firstborn received a larger share of the inheritance and standing as head of the family, which is why the midwife marks which child appeared first.

38:29

Pharez (also spelled Perez) sounds like the Hebrew word for a breach or a bursting through, so his name echoes the midwife's exclamation.

38:30

Zarah (also spelled Zerah) is connected with a Hebrew root meaning to shine or to dawn, possibly a play on the bright scarlet thread on his hand.