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Judah found a wife for his oldest son, Er. Her name was Tamar. But the Lord saw that Er, Judah's firstborn son, was very bad. So the Lord caused him to die. Then Judah said to Onan, ‘You should marry your dead brother's wife and have sex with her. You are her dead husband's brother. You must have a son who will become your dead brother's descendant.’[a]

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Footnotes

  1. 38:8 In those days, there was a custom. If a man died before his wife had had children, his brother had to marry the dead man's wife. The family would think of a new son born to those parents as the child of the dead brother. So this son would receive any land belonging to the dead man.

Judah got a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.(A) But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the Lord’s sight;(B) so the Lord put him to death.(C)

Then Judah said to Onan, “Sleep with your brother’s wife and fulfill your duty to her as a brother-in-law to raise up offspring for your brother.”(D)

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