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Gênesis 38

ARC · Chapter 38/50

1E aconteceu no mesmo tempo que Judah desceu de entre seus irmãos, e entrou na casa d'um varão de Adullam, cujo nome era Hirah,

2E viu Judah ali a filha d'um varão cananeu, cujo nome era Shuah; e tomou-a, e entrou a ella.

3E ella concebeu, e pariu um filho, e chamou o seu nome Er;

4E tornou a conceber, e pariu um filho, e chamou o seu nome Onan;

5E continuou ainda, e pariu um filho, e chamou o seu nome Selah; e elle estava em Chezib, quando ella o pariu.

6Judah pois tomou uma mulher para Er, o seu primogenito, e o seu nome era Tamar.

7Er, porém, o primogenito de Judah, era mau aos olhos do Senhor, pelo que o Senhor o matou.

8Então disse Judah a Onan: Entra á mulher do teu irmão, e casa-te com ella, e suscita semente a teu irmão.

9Onan, porém, soube que esta semente não havia de ser para elle; e aconteceu que, quando entrava á mulher de seu irmão, derramava-a na terra, para não dar semente a seu irmão.

10E o que fazia era mau aos olhos do Senhor, pelo que tambem o matou.

11Então disse Judah a Tamar sua nóra: Fica-te viuva na casa de teu pae, até que Selah, meu filho, seja grande. Porquanto disse: Para que porventura não morra tambem este, como seus irmãos. Assim foi-se Tamar, e ficou-se na casa de seu pae.

12Passando-se pois muitos dias, morreu a filha de Shuah, mulher de Judah; e depois se consolou Judah, e subiu aos tosquiadores das suas ovelhas em Timnah, elle e Hirah seu amigo, o adullamita.

13E deram aviso a Tamar, dizendo: Eis que o teu sogro sobe a Timnah, a tosquiar as suas ovelhas.

14Então ella tirou de sobre si os vestidos da sua viuvez, e cobriu-se com o véu, e envolveu-se, e assentou-se á entrada das duas fontes que estão no caminho de Timnah, porque via que Selah já era grande, e ella lhe não fôra dada por mulher

15E vendo-a Judah, teve-a por uma prostituta; porque ella tinha coberto o seu rosto.

16E apartou-se a ella ao caminho, e disse: Vem, peço-te, deixa-me entrar a ti. Porquanto não sabia que era sua nóra: e ella disse: Que darás, para que entres a mim

17E elle disse: Eu te enviarei um cabrito do rebanho. E ella disse: Dás-me penhor até que o envies?

18Então elle disse: Que penhor é que te darei? E ella disse: O teu sello, e o teu lenço, e o cajado que está em tua mão. O que elle lhe deu, e entrou a ella, e ella concebeu d'elle.

19E ella levantou-se, e foi-se, e tirou de sobre si o seu véu, e vestiu os vestidos da sua viuvez.

20E Judah enviou o cabrito por mão do seu amigo o adullamita, para tomar o penhor da mão da mulher, porém não a achou.

21E perguntou aos homens d'aquelle logar, dizendo: Onde está a prostituta que estava no caminho junto ás duas fontes? E disseram: Aqui não esteve prostituta alguma.

22E tornou-se a Judah, e disse: Não a achei; e tambem disseram os homens d'aquelle logar: Aqui não esteve prostituta.

23Então disse Judah: Tome-o para si, para que porventura não venhamos em desprezo; eis que tenho enviado este cabrito; mas tu não a achaste.

24E aconteceu que, quasi tres mezes depois, deram aviso a Judah, dizendo: Tamar, tua nóra, tem fornicado, e eis que está pejada da fornicação. Então disse Judah: Tirae-a fóra para que seja queimada.

25E tirando-a fóra, ella mandou dizer a seu sogro: Do varão de quem são estas coisas eu concebi. E ella disse mais: Conhece, peço-te, de quem é este sello, e estes lenços e este cajado.

26E conheceu-os Judah, e disse: Mais justa é ella do que eu. porquanto não a tenho dado a Selah meu filho. E nunca mais a conheceu.

27E aconteceu ao tempo de parir, eis que havia gemeos em seu ventre;

28E aconteceu que, parindo ella, que um poz fóra a mão, e a parteira tomou-a, e atou em sua mão um fio de grã, dizendo: Este saiu primeiro.

29Mas aconteceu que, tornando elle a recolher a sua mão, eis que saiu o seu irmão, e ella disse: Como tu tens rompido? sobre ti é a rotura. E chamaram o seu nome Perez;

30E depois saiu o seu irmão, em cuja mão estava o fio de grã; e chamaram o seu nome Zerah.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Judah marries and has sons who die because of their wickedness; his daughter-in-law Tamar, denied the youngest son as promised, disguises herself as a prostitute to bear children through Judah himself, who acknowledges his wrongdoing when confronted.

Explanation

Although this chapter abruptly interrupts Joseph's narrative, it serves an important purpose: showing the moral development of Judah, who will become a central figure later on. At first, Judah acts irresponsibly, denying Tamar the legal right to have a child through the family line (a practice called levirate marriage), which drives her to a desperate and risky act of disguising herself in order to conceive by him. When confronted with proof of his own hypocrisy (he had condemned Tamar to death for 'prostitution' without knowing he was the father), Judah publicly admits his wrongdoing, saying, 'she is more righteous than I' — a rare moment of humility and accountability in the Bible. This admission marks a turning point in Judah's character, who will grow in integrity in the chapters that follow. The lesson is about the importance of admitting our mistakes even when doing so exposes our own faults.

Fun facts

  • Perez, one of the sons born to Judah and Tamar in this chapter, would become a direct ancestor of King David (Ruth 4:18-22) and, through him, of Jesus Christ, as recorded in the genealogy of Matthew 1:3 — showing how this complicated episode connects to the greater story of biblical salvation.
  • The custom of 'levirate marriage' (the obligation of the nearest relative to raise up offspring for a deceased man through his widow) mentioned here would later be formally codified in the Law of Moses in Deuteronomy 25:5-10, showing how ancient family practices were later organized into law.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Gênesis 38:1Judah goes down from his brothers, still mourning Joseph’s supposed death, and turns in to a certain Adullamite named Hirah — the start of a parallel story that interrupts Joseph’s plot for a whole chapter.
  2. Gênesis 38:2Judah takes a wife, the daughter of a certain Canaanite named Shuah — a choice that contrasts with the previous generation’s care in avoiding marriages outside the family.
  3. Gênesis 38:3The first son, Er, is born — the beginning of a genealogy that will later lead to the line of David.
  4. Gênesis 38:4Onan is the son who, later in this same chapter, refuses to give descendants to his dead brother’s widow — and for that also dies, opening the way to the story of Tamar.
  5. Gênesis 38:5A third son, Shelah, is born at Chezib — the detail about the location marks specifically where the family was living at that time.
  6. Gênesis 38:6Judah takes a wife named Tamar for his firstborn, Er — the name that will become central to the rest of the chapter.
  7. Gênesis 38:7Er is wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord slays him, without the text detailing exactly what the sin was.
  8. Gênesis 38:8This is the law of levirate marriage: if a married man died without children, one of his brothers was to marry the widow, and the first son of that marriage would be counted as the heir of the dead brother, not of the biological father. It was a way of ensuring the deceased’s name and inheritance continued, and that the widow was not left unprotected.
  9. Gênesis 38:9Onan agrees to go in unto his brother’s widow, but deliberately “spilled it on the ground” every time he lay with her, because he knew the seed should not be his, but the heir of his dead brother, dividing the inheritance he wanted only for himself. What the text marks as the problem is not the act itself, but the intent to betray the duty he had taken on.
  10. Gênesis 38:10Onan also dies for the thing he did, which displeased the Lord — refusing to give descendants to his dead brother even while formally observing the custom later called levirate marriage.
  11. Gênesis 38:11Judah sends Tamar back as a widow to her father’s house, promising to give her to Shelah when he grows up — but the text already hints, through Judah’s fear of losing another son, that this promise would not really be kept.
  12. Gênesis 38:12In process of time Judah’s wife dies; he is comforted and goes up to his sheepshearers accompanied by his friend Hirah — a social event Tamar will use to her advantage.
  13. Gênesis 38:13Someone informs Tamar that her father-in-law is going up to Timnath to shear his sheep — the information she needs to set her own plan in motion.
  14. Gênesis 38:14Tamar puts off her widow’s garments, covers herself “with a vail,” and sits in an open place by the way to Timnath — an outfit and a location associated, at the time, with women who worked as prostitutes. She does this deliberately, knowing Judah would pass that way, to force the situation after he failed to keep his promise to marry her to his third son.
  15. Gênesis 38:15Covered by the veil, Tamar is thought by Judah to be an harlot, because she had covered her face — the disguise works exactly as she expected.
  16. Gênesis 38:16Judah turns unto her by the way, not knowing she is his daughter-in-law, and proposes relations with her; Tamar asks what he will give her before agreeing.
  17. Gênesis 38:17Judah promises to send a kid from the flock; Tamar demands a pledge until he sends it — securing solid proof of who had been with her.
  18. Gênesis 38:18“Thy signet” (a personal seal, worn as a ring or hung around the neck), his bracelets, and his staff were personal items as identifiable as an ID document would be today. Tamar asks for these three items as a guarantee — and it is exactly with them that, later on, she will prove whose child she is carrying.
  19. Gênesis 38:19After the encounter, Tamar arises, lays by her veil, and puts on the garments of her widowhood, returning to her usual appearance as if nothing had happened.
  20. Gênesis 38:20Judah sends the kid by the hand of his friend Hirah to receive his pledge from the woman’s hand, but he cannot find her.
  21. Gênesis 38:21Hirah asks the men of that place about the harlot who was openly by the way side; they say there was no harlot in that place.
  22. Gênesis 38:22Hirah returns to Judah without success, confirming that the men of the place also knew of no harlot there.
  23. Gênesis 38:23Judah decides to let her take it, lest they be shamed, preferring his own embarrassment at not recovering the pledge over drawing more attention by searching for it.
  24. Gênesis 38:24The death sentence Judah orders for Tamar — “let her be burnt” — seems like a brutal overreaction today, but it shows how serious an accusation of playing the harlot against the widow of a son of the family was considered in that society, especially while she was under his responsibility. The order is never carried out, because Tamar presents the proof in time.
  25. Gênesis 38:25About three months after, accused of playing the harlot and condemned to death by Judah, Tamar sends her father-in-law’s own belongings — signet, bracelets, and staff — publicly exposing who really got her with child.
  26. Gênesis 38:26When Judah acknowledges them and says she has been “more righteous than I,” he is publicly admitting that the fault was his: he had promised to give her to Shelah his son and failed to do so, leaving her without options. It is a rare moment in which a character clearly admits his own wrongdoing within the story.
  27. Gênesis 38:27At the time of her travail, it is discovered that Tamar has twins in her womb — a detail that doubles the genealogy resulting from this unusual episode.
  28. Gênesis 38:28During labor, one of the babies puts out his hand first, and the midwife binds a scarlet thread upon it, saying, “This came out first” — but the order ends up reversed in the next verse.
  29. Gênesis 38:29Pharez comes from a Hebrew word linked to breaking through — the name itself arises from the scene described there, when the midwife exclaims, “How hast thou broken forth?” as this twin breaks the expected order and comes out first, even after his brother had already put his hand out ahead of him. Pharez will later become a direct ancestor of King David.
  30. Gênesis 38:30The brother who had the scarlet thread upon his hand is born last, and his name is called Zarah — a reversal of birth order that the text itself highlights as unusual.

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