Genesis 38

¹About that time, Judah left his brothers and settled near a man named Hirah, an Adullamite.

²There Judah saw the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua, and he took her as a wife and slept with her.

³So she conceived and gave birth to a son, and Judah named him Er.

⁴Again she conceived and gave birth to a son, and she named him Onan.

⁵Then she gave birth to another son and named him Shelah; it was at Chezib that she gave birth to him.

⁶Now Judah acquired a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.

⁷But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD; so the LORD put him to death.

⁸Then Judah said to Onan, “Sleep with your brother’s wife. Perform your duty as her brother-in-law and raise up offspring for your brother.”

⁹But Onan knew that the offspring would not belong to him; so whenever he would sleep with his brother’s wife, he would spill his seed on the ground so that he would not produce offspring for his brother.

¹⁰What he did was wicked in the sight of the LORD, so He put Onan to death as well.

¹¹Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Live as a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah grows up.” For he thought, “He may die too, like his brothers.” So Tamar went to live in her father’s house.

¹²After a long time Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had finished mourning, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went up to his sheepshearers at Timnah.