Genesis 38:2

38:2 There Judah saw the daughter of a Canaanite man ¹  named Shua. ²  Judah acquired her as a wife ³  and had marital relations with her. ⁴ 

Genesis 38:5

38:5 Then she had ⁵  yet another son, whom she named Shelah. She gave birth to him in Kezib. ⁶ 

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, ⁷  “I don’t want him to die like his brothers.” ⁸  So Tamar went and lived in her father’s house.

Genesis 38:14

38:14 So she removed her widow’s clothes and covered herself with a veil. She wrapped herself and sat at the entrance to Enaim which is on the way to Timnah. (She did this because ⁹  she saw that she had not been given to Shelah as a wife, even though he had now grown up.) ¹⁰ 

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¹ tn Heb “a man, a Canaanite.”

² tn Heb “and his name was Shua.”

³ tn Heb “and he took her.”

⁴ tn Heb “and he went to her.” This expression is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.

⁵ tn Heb “and she added again and she gave birth.” The first verb and the adverb emphasize that she gave birth once more.

⁶ tn Or “and he [i.e., Judah] was in Kezib when she gave birth to him.”

⁷ tn Heb “said.”

⁸ 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.

⁹ tn The Hebrew text simply has “because,” connecting this sentence to what precedes. For stylistic reasons the words “she did this” are supplied in the translation and a new sentence begun.

¹⁰ tn Heb “she saw that Shelah had grown up, but she was not given to him as a wife.”