Genesis 38:1-11

Expanded Bible

Judah and Tamar

38 About that time, Judah ·left [^Lwent down from] his brothers and went to stay with a man named Hirah in the town of Adullam [^Ca Canaanite city nine miles northwest of Hebron]. ² There Judah met a Canaanite girl, the daughter of a man named Shua, and married her. Judah ·had sexual relations with [^Lwent to] her, ³ and she ·became pregnant [conceived] and gave birth to a son, whom Judah named Er. ⁴ Later she gave birth to another son and named him Onan. ⁵ Still later she had another son and named him Shelah. She was at Kezib [^C“deceiving”; a town near Adullam; probably the same as Aczib; Josh. 15:44] when this third son was born.

⁶ Judah ·chose [^Ltook] a girl named Tamar to be the wife of his ·first son [firstborn] Er. ⁷ But Er, Judah’s ·oldest son [firstborn], did ·what the Lord said was evil [^Levil in the eyes/sight of the Lord] so the Lord killed him. ⁸ Then Judah said to Er’s brother Onan, “Go and have sexual relations with your dead brother’s wife. It is your duty to ·provide children for your brother in this way [^Lraise up a seed for your brother; Deut. 25:5–10].”

⁹ But Onan knew that the ·children [^Lseed] would not belong to him, so when he ·was supposed to have sexual relations with [^Lhe went to] Tamar he ·did not complete the sex act [^Lspilled his seed on the ground], ·making it impossible for Tamar to become pregnant and for Er to have descendants [^Lso that he did not give a descendant/seed to his brother]. ¹⁰ ·The Lord was displeased by this wicked thing Onan had done [^LWhat he did was evil in the eyes/sight of the Lord], so he killed Onan also. ¹¹ Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “·Go back to live in your father’s house, and don’t marry [^LRemain a widow in your father’s house] until my young son Shelah grows up.” Judah was afraid that Shelah also would die like his brothers. So Tamar returned to her father’s home.