Genesis 38:6-16

6 Judah got a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.
7 Now Er, Judah's firstborn, was evil in the Lord's sight, and the Lord put him to death.
8 Then Judah said to Onan, "Sleep with your brother's wife. Perform your duty as her brother-in-law[a] and produce offspring for your brother."[b]
9 But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his; so whenever he slept with his brother's wife, he released his semen on the ground so that he would not produce offspring for his brother.
10 What he did was evil in the Lord's sight, so He put him to death also.
11 Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, "Remain a widow in your father's house until my son Shelah grows up." For he thought, "He might die too, like his brother." So Tamar went to live in her father's house.
12 After a long time[c] Judah's wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had finished mourning, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went up to Timnah to the sheepshearers.
13 Tamar was told, "Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep."
14 So she took off her widow's clothes, veiled [her face], covered herself, and sat at the entrance to Enaim,[d] which is on the way to Timnah. For she saw that, though Shelah had grown up, she had not been given to him as a wife.
15 When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face.
16 He went over to her and said, "Come, let me sleep with you," for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law.[e] She said, "What will you give me for sleeping with me?"

Genesis 38:6-16 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 38

This chapter is wholly taken up with matters relating to Judah, the fourth son of Jacob, from whom the Jews have their name, and from whom Christ sprung: it treats of his marriage with a Canaanitess, his children by her, their character and end, Ge 38:1-11; of his incest with his daughter-in-law, though unknown by him, Ge 38:12-23; of his resentment against her, when he heard she was with child, and his confusion when he found it was by himself, Ge 38:24-26; and of the birth of twins by her, named Pharez and Zarah, Ge 38:27-30.

Footnotes 5

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