She yet again bore a son, and named him Shelah: and he was at Chezib, when she bore him.
Parallel translations
- KJV And she yet again conceived, and bare a son; and called his name Shelah: and he was at Chezib, when she bare him.
- BSB Then she gave birth to another son and named him Shelah; it was at Chezib that she gave birth to him.
- NKJV And she conceived yet again and bore a son, and called his name Shelah. He was at Chezib when she bore him.
- NASB She gave birth to yet another son and named him Shelah; and it was at Chezib that she gave birth to him.
- NLT And when she gave birth to a third son, she named him Shelah. At the time of Shelah’s birth, they were living at Kezib.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
A third son, Shelah, is born, completing Judah's three sons.
Overview
Shelah rounds out the trio of sons whose stories drive the chapter's drama over levirate duty and Tamar. The geographic note (Chezib) anchors the account in real places. Through this fractured family, God preserves the messianic line.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Num 26:20The sons of Judah after their families were: of Shelah, the family of the Shelanites; of Perez, the family of the Perezites; of Zerah, the family of the Zerahites.
- 1 Chr 4:21The sons of Shelah the son of Judah: Er the father of Lecah, Laadah the father of Mareshah, and the families of the house of those who worked fine linen, of the house of Ashbea;
- Gen 38:11Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, “Remain a widow in your father’s house, until Shelah, my son, is grown up”; for he said, “Lest he also die, like his brothers.” Tamar went and lived in her father’s house.
- Gen 46:12The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah; but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul.
- Gen 38:26Judah acknowledged them, and said, “She is more righteous than I, because I didn’t give her to Shelah, my son.” He knew her again no more.
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Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 38:5 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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