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, ¹  “I don’t want him to die like his brothers.” ²  So Tamar went and lived in her father’s house.

Genesis 50:11

50:11 When the Canaanites who lived in the land saw them mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a very sad occasion ³  for the Egyptians.” That is why its name was called ⁴  Abel Mizraim, ⁵  which is beyond the Jordan.

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¹ tn Heb “said.”

² tn Heb “Otherwise he will die, also he, like his brothers.”

sn I don’t want him to die like his brothers. This clause explains that Judah had no intention of giving Shelah to Tamar for the purpose of the levirate marriage. Judah apparently knew the nature of his sons, and feared that God would be angry with the third son and kill him as well.

³ tn Heb “this is heavy mourning for Egypt.”

⁴ tn The verb has no expressed subject and so it may be translated as passive.

⁵ sn The name Abel Mizraim means “the mourning of Egypt.”