Genesis 38:8

38:8 Then Judah said to Onan, “Have sexual relations with ¹  your brother’s wife and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her so that you may raise ²  up a descendant for your brother.” ³ 

Genesis 38:11

38:11 Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Live as a widow in your father’s house until Shelah my son grows up.” For he thought, ⁴  “I don’t want him to die like his brothers.” ⁵  So Tamar went and lived in her father’s house.

Genesis 38:26

38:26 Judah recognized them and said, “She is more upright ⁶  than I am, because I wouldn’t give her to Shelah my son.” He did not have sexual relations with her ⁷  again.

¹ tn Heb “go to.” The expression is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.

² tn The imperative with the prefixed conjunction here indicates purpose.

³ sn Raise up a descendant for your brother. The purpose of this custom, called the levirate system, was to ensure that no line of the family would become extinct. The name of the deceased was to be maintained through this custom of having a child by the nearest relative. See M. Burrows, “Levirate Marriage in Israel,” JBL 59 (1940): 23-33.

⁴ tn Heb “said.”

⁵ tn Heb “Otherwise he will die, also he, like his brothers.”

⁶ tn Traditionally “more righteous”; cf. NCV, NRSV, NLT “more in the right.”

⁷ tn Heb “and he did not add again to know her.” Here “know” is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.