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Gênesis 38

BLIVRE · Chapter 38/50

1E aconteceu naquele tempo, que Judá desceu da presença de seus irmãos, e foi-se a um homem adulamita, que se chamava Hira.

2E viu ali Judá a filha de um homem cananeu, o qual se chamava Sua; e tomou-a, e se deitou com ela:

3A qual concebeu, e deu à luz um filho; e chamou seu nome Er.

4E concebeu outra vez, e deu à luz um filho, e chamou seu nome Onã.

5E voltou a conceber, e deu à luz um filho, e chamou seu nome Selá. E estava em Quezibe quando o deu à luz.

6E Judá tomou mulher para seu primogênito Er, a qual se chamava Tamar.

7E Er, o primogênito de Judá, foi mau aos olhos do SENHOR, e tirou-lhe o SENHOR a vida.

8Então Judá disse a Onã: Deita-te com mulher de teu irmão, e casa-te com ela, e suscita descendência a teu irmão.

9E sabendo Onã que a descendência não havia de ser sua, sucedia que quando se deitava com mulher de seu irmão derramava em terra, para não dar descendência a seu irmão.

10E desagradou aos olhos do SENHOR o que fazia, e também tirou a ele a vida.

11E Judá disse a Tamar sua nora: Fica-te viúva em casa de teu pai, até que cresça Selá meu filho; porque disse: Para que não aconteça que morra ele também como seus irmãos. E foi-se Tamar, e ficou em casa de seu pai.

12E passaram muitos dias, e morreu a filha de Sua, mulher de Judá; e Judá se consolou, e subia aos tosquiadores de suas ovelhas a Timna, ele e seu amigo Hira o adulamita.

13E foi dado aviso a Tamar, dizendo: Eis que teu sogro sobe a Timna a tosquiar suas ovelhas.

14Então tirou ela de sobre si as roupas de sua viuvez, e cobriu-se com um véu, e envolveu-se, e se pôs à porta das águas que estão junto ao caminho de Timna; porque via que havia crescido Selá, e ela não era dada a ele por mulher.

15E viu-a Judá, e teve-a por prostituta, porque havia ela coberto seu rosto.

16E desviou-se do caminho até ela, e disse-lhe: Eia, pois, agora deitarei contigo; porque não sabia que era sua nora; e ela disse: Que me darás, se deitares comigo?

17Ele respondeu: Eu te enviarei do gado um cabrito das cabras. E ela disse: Terás de me dar penhor até que o envies.

18Então ele disse: Que penhor te darei? Ela respondeu: Teu anel, e teu manto, e teu bordão que tens em tua mão. E ele lhe deu, e se deitou com ela, a qual concebeu dele.

19E levantou-se, e foi-se: e tirou o véu de sobre si, e vestiu-se das roupas de sua viuvez.

20E Judá enviou o cabrito das cabras por meio de seu amigo o adulamita, para que tomasse o penhor da mão da mulher; mas não a achou.

21E perguntou aos homens daquele lugar, dizendo: Onde está a prostituta das águas junto ao caminho? E eles lhe disseram: Não esteve aqui prostituta.

22Então ele se voltou a Judá, e disse: Não a achei; e também os homens do lugar disseram: Aqui não esteve prostituta.

23E Judá disse: Tome ela dessas coisas para si, para que não sejamos menosprezados: eis que eu enviei este cabrito, e tu não a achaste.

24E aconteceu que ao fim de uns três meses foi dado aviso a Judá, dizendo: Tamar tua nora cometeu imoralidade sexual, e além disso está grávida das promiscuidades. E Judá disse: Tirai-a, e seja queimada.

25E ela quando a tiravam, enviou a dizer a seu sogro: Do homem a quem pertence estas coisas, estou grávida: e disse mais: Olha agora a quem pertence estas coisas, o anel, e o manto, e o bordão.

26Então Judá os reconheceu, e disse: Mais justa é que eu, porquanto não a dei a Selá meu filho. E nunca mais a conheceu.

27E aconteceu que ao tempo de dar à luz, eis que havia dois em seu ventre.

28E sucedeu, quando dava à luz, que tirou a mão um, e a parteira tomou e amarrou à sua mão um fio de escarlate, dizendo: Este saiu primeiro.

29Porém foi que voltando ele a recolher a mão, eis que seu irmão saiu; e ela disse: Como fizeste sobre ti rompimento? E chamou seu nome Perez.

30E depois saiu seu irmão, o que tinha em sua mão o fio de escarlate, e chamou seu nome Zerá.

📖 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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