Genesis 38:1-10 ▼

1 About that time Judah left his brothers and went to stay with a man from Adullam whose name was Hirah.

2 There Judah met the daughter of a Canaanite man whose name was Shua. He married her and slept with her.

3 She became pregnant and gave birth to a son named Er.

4 She became pregnant again and gave birth to another son, whom she named Onan.

5 Then she became pregnant again and gave birth to another son, whom she named Shelah. He was born at Kezib.

6 Judah chose a wife for his firstborn son Er. Her name was Tamar.

7 Er angered the LORD. So the LORD took away his life.

8 Then Judah said to Onan, |Go sleep with your brother's widow. Do your duty for her as a brother-in-law, and produce a descendant for your brother.|

9 But Onan knew that the descendant wouldn't belong to him, so whenever he slept with his brother's widow, he wasted his semen on the ground to avoid giving his brother a descendant.

10 What Onan did angered the LORD so much that the LORD took away Onan's life too.