Genesis 38

Question 1

Genesis 38:1

Answer 1

At that time, Judah left his brothers and went down to stay with a man of Adullam named Hirah.

Question 2

Genesis 38:2

Answer 2

There Judah met the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua. He married her and lay with her;

Question 3

Genesis 38:3

Answer 3

she became pregnant and gave birth to a son, who was named Er.

Question 4

Genesis 38:4

Answer 4

She conceived again and gave birth to a son and named him Onan.

Question 5

Genesis 38:5

Answer 5

She gave birth to still another son and named him Shelah. It was at Kezib that she gave birth to him.

Question 6

Genesis 38:6

Answer 6

Judah got a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.

Question 7

Genesis 38:7

Answer 7

But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the LORD’s sight; so the LORD put him to death.

Question 8

Genesis 38:8

Answer 8

Then Judah said to Onan, “Lie with your brother’s wife and fulfill your duty to her as a brother-in-law to produce offspring for your brother.”

Question 9

Genesis 38:9

Answer 9

But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his; so whenever he lay with his brother’s wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from producing offspring for his brother.

Question 10

Genesis 38:10

Answer 10

What he did was wicked in the LORD’s sight; so he put him to death also.

Question 11

Genesis 38:11

Answer 11

Judah then said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Live as a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah grows up.” For he thought, “He may die too, just like his brothers.” So Tamar went to live in her father’s house.

Question 12

Genesis 38:12

Answer 12

After a long time Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had recovered from his grief, he went up to Timnah, to the men who were shearing his sheep, and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went with him.

Question 13

Genesis 38:13

Answer 13

When Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is on his way to Timnah to shear his sheep,”

Question 14

Genesis 38:14

Answer 14

she took off her widow’s clothes, covered herself with a veil to disguise herself, and then sat down at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that, though Shelah had now grown up, she had not been given to him as his wife.

Question 15

Genesis 38:15

Answer 15

When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face.

Question 16

Genesis 38:16

Answer 16

Not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, he went over to her by the roadside and said, “Come now, let me sleep with you.” “And what will you give me to sleep with you?” she asked.

Question 17

Genesis 38:17

Answer 17

“I’ll send you a young goat from my flock,” he said. “Will you give me something as a pledge until you send it?” she asked.

Question 18

Genesis 38:18

Answer 18

He said, “What pledge should I give you?” “Your seal and its cord, and the staff in your hand,” she answered. So he gave them to her and slept with her, and she became pregnant by him.

Question 19

Genesis 38:19

Answer 19

After she left, she took off her veil and put on her widow’s clothes again.

Question 20

Genesis 38:20

Answer 20

Meanwhile Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite in order to get his pledge back from the woman, but he did not find her.

Question 21

Genesis 38:21

Answer 21

He asked the men who lived there, “Where is the shrine prostitute who was beside the road at Enaim?” “There hasn’t been any shrine prostitute here,” they said.

Question 22

Genesis 38:22

Answer 22

So he went back to Judah and said, “I didn’t find her. Besides, the men who lived there said, ‘There hasn’t been any shrine prostitute here.’”

Question 23

Genesis 38:23

Answer 23

Then Judah said, “Let her keep what she has, or we will become a laughingstock. After all, I did send her this young goat, but you didn’t find her.”

Question 24

Genesis 38:24

Answer 24

About three months later Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar is guilty of prostitution, and as a result she is now pregnant.” Judah said, “Bring her out and have her burned to death!”

Question 25

Genesis 38:25

Answer 25

As she was being brought out, she sent a message to her father-in-law. “I am pregnant by the man who owns these,” she said. And she added, “See if you recognize whose seal and cord and staff these are.”

Question 26

Genesis 38:26

Answer 26

Judah recognized them and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I wouldn’t give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not sleep with her again.

Question 27

Genesis 38:27

Answer 27

When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb.

Question 28

Genesis 38:28

Answer 28

As she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand; so the midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it on his wrist and said, “This one came out first.”

Question 29

Genesis 38:29

Answer 29

But when he drew back his hand, his brother came out, and she said, “So this is how you have broken out!” And he was named Perez.

Question 30

Genesis 38:30

Answer 30

Then his brother, who had the scarlet thread on his wrist, came out and he was given the name Zerah.