Genesis 38:4

4 Later she gave birth to another son and named him Onan.

Genesis 38:4 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 38:4

And she conceived again, and bare a son
As soon as she well could: and she called his name Onan;
the first son Judah gave the name to, but his wife named this, so called from grief or sorrow; the reason of it, according to the above Targum, was,

``because his father would mourn for him;''

he was a Benoni, see ( Genesis 35:18 ) , whose sin and immature death caused sorrow.

Genesis 38:4 In-Context

2 There Judah met a Canaanite girl, the daughter of a man named Shua, and married her. Judah had sexual relations with her,

3 and she became pregnant 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 when this third son was born.

6 Judah chose a girl named Tamar to be the wife of his first son Er.