Genesis 38:8

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

Then Judah said to Onan,“Sleep with your brother’s wife and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her so that you may raise up a descendant for your brother.”

Additional Resources

Referenced Verses

  • Deut 25:5-9 : 5 Respect for the Sanctity of Others If brothers live together and one of them dies without having a son, the dead man’s wife must not remarry someone outside the family. Instead, her late husband’s brother must go to her, marry her, and perform the duty of a brother-in-law. 6 Then the first son she bears will continue the name of the dead brother, thus preventing his name from being blotted out of Israel. 7 But if the man does not want to marry his brother’s widow, then she must go to the elders at the town gate and say,“My husband’s brother refuses to preserve his brother’s name in Israel; he is unwilling to perform the duty of a brother-in-law to me!” 8 Then the elders of his city must summon him and speak to him. If he persists, saying,“I don’t want to marry her,” 9 then his sister-in-law must approach him in view of the elders, remove his sandal from his foot, and spit in his face. She will then respond,“Thus may it be done to any man who does not maintain his brother’s family line!” 10 His family name will be referred to in Israel as“the family of the one whose sandal was removed.”
  • Ruth 1:11 : 11 But Naomi replied,“Go back home, my daughters! There is no reason for you to return to Judah with me! I am no longer capable of giving birth to sons who might become your husbands!
  • Ruth 4:5-9 : 5 Then Boaz said,“When you acquire the field from Naomi, you must also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the wife of our deceased relative, in order to preserve his family name by raising up a descendant who will inherit his property.” 6 The guardian said,“Then I am unable to redeem it, for I would ruin my own inheritance in that case. You may exercise my redemption option, for I am unable to redeem it.” 7 (Now this used to be the customary way to finalize a transaction involving redemption in Israel: A man would remove his sandal and give it to the other party. This was a legally binding act in Israel.) 8 So the guardian said to Boaz,“You may acquire it,” and he removed his sandal. 9 Then Boaz said to the leaders and all the people,“You are witnesses today that I have acquired from Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech, Kilion, and Mahlon. 10 I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, the wife of Mahlon, as my wife to raise up a descendant who will inherit his property so the name of the deceased might not disappear from among his relatives and from his village. You are witnesses today.” 11 All the people who were at the gate and the elders replied,“We are witnesses. May the LORD make the woman who is entering your home like Rachel and Leah, both of whom built up the house of Israel! May you prosper in Ephrathah and become famous in Bethlehem.
  • Matt 22:23-27 : 23 Marriage and the Resurrection The same day Sadducees(who say there is no resurrection) came to him and asked him, 24 “Teacher, Moses said,‘If a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and father children for his brother.’ 25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children he left his wife to his brother. 26 The second did the same, and the third, down to the seventh. 27 Last of all, the woman died.
  • Lev 18:16 : 16 You must not have sexual relations with your brother’s wife; she is your brother’s nakedness.
  • Num 36:8-9 : 8 And every daughter who possesses an inheritance from any of the tribes of the Israelites must become the wife of a man from any family in her father’s tribe, so that every Israelite may retain the inheritance of his fathers. 9 No inheritance may pass from tribe to tribe. But every one of the tribes of the Israelites must retain its inheritance.”

Similar Verses (AI)

These verses are found using AI-powered semantic similarity based on meaning and context. Results may occasionally include unexpected connections.

  • Gen 38:9-11
    3 verses
    87%

    9But Onan knew that the child would not be considered his. So whenever he slept with his brother’s wife, he wasted his emission on the ground so as not to give his brother a descendant.

    10What he did was evil in the LORD’s sight, so the LORD killed him too.

    11Then 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,“I don’t want him to die like his brothers.” So Tamar went and lived in her father’s house.

  • Deut 25:5-7
    3 verses
    76%

    5Respect for the Sanctity of Others If brothers live together and one of them dies without having a son, the dead man’s wife must not remarry someone outside the family. Instead, her late husband’s brother must go to her, marry her, and perform the duty of a brother-in-law.

    6Then the first son she bears will continue the name of the dead brother, thus preventing his name from being blotted out of Israel.

    7But if the man does not want to marry his brother’s widow, then she must go to the elders at the town gate and say,“My husband’s brother refuses to preserve his brother’s name in Israel; he is unwilling to perform the duty of a brother-in-law to me!”

  • Gen 38:1-7
    7 verses
    75%

    1Judah and Tamar At that time Judah left his brothers and stayed with an Adullamite man named Hirah.

    2There Judah saw the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua. Judah acquired her as a wife and slept with her.

    3She became pregnant and had a son. Judah named him Er.

    4She became pregnant again and had another son, whom she named Onan.

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

    6Judah acquired a wife for Er his firstborn; her name was Tamar.

    7But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was evil in the LORD’s sight, so the LORD killed him.

  • Gen 38:15-16
    2 verses
    73%

    15When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute because she had covered her face.

    16He turned aside to her along the road and said,“Come, please, I want to sleep with you.”(He did not realize it was his daughter-in-law.) She asked,“What will you give me so that you may sleep with me?”

  • Gen 24:38
    73%

    38but you must go to the family of my father and to my relatives to find a wife for my son.’

  • Num 26:19
    73%

    19Judah The descendants of Judah were Er and Onan, but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan.

  • Gen 38:23-24
    2 verses
    73%

    23Judah said,“Let her keep the things for herself. Otherwise we will appear to be dishonest. I did indeed send this young goat, but you couldn’t find her.”

    24After three months Judah was told,“Your daughter-in-law Tamar has turned to prostitution, and as a result she has become pregnant.” Judah said,“Bring her out and let her be burned!”

  • 1 Chr 2:3-4
    2 verses
    73%

    3Judah’s Descendants The sons of Judah:Er, Onan, and Shelah. These three were born to him by Bathshua, a Canaanite woman. Er, Judah’s firstborn, displeased the LORD, so the LORD killed him.

    4Tamar, Judah’s daughter-in-law, bore to him Perez and Zerah. Judah had five sons in all.

  • Mark 12:19-20
    2 verses
    73%

    19“Teacher, Moses wrote for us:‘If a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, that man must marry the widow and father children for his brother.’

    20There were seven brothers. The first one married, and when he died he had no children.

  • Luke 20:28
    71%

    28They asked him,“Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies leaving a wife but no children, that man must marry the widow and father children for his brother.

  • Gen 38:19
    71%

    19She left immediately, removed her veil, and put on her widow’s clothes.

  • Lev 20:21
    71%

    21If a man has marital relations with his brother’s wife, it is indecency. He has exposed his brother’s nakedness; they will be childless.

  • Ruth 4:12
    71%

    12May your family become like the family of Perez– whom Tamar bore to Judah– through the descendants the LORD gives you by this young woman.”

  • Lev 18:16
    71%

    16You must not have sexual relations with your brother’s wife; she is your brother’s nakedness.

  • Gen 38:26-27
    2 verses
    71%

    26Judah recognized them and said,“She is more upright than I am, because I wouldn’t give her to Shelah my son.” He was not physically intimate with her again.

    27When it was time for her to give birth, there were twins in her womb.

  • Matt 22:24-25
    2 verses
    71%

    24“Teacher, Moses said,‘If a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and father children for his brother.’

    25Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children he left his wife to his brother.

  • Gen 19:34
    69%

    34So in the morning the older daughter said to the younger,“Since I went to bed with my father last night, let’s make him drunk again tonight. Then you go in and go to bed with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.”

  • Matt 1:2
    69%

    2Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,

  • Gen 38:13
    68%

    13Tamar was told,“Look, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep.”

  • Gen 28:2
    68%

    2Leave immediately for Paddan Aram! Go to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father, and find yourself a wife there, among the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.

  • Lev 18:14
    68%

    14You must not expose the nakedness of your father’s brother; you must not approach his wife to have marital relations with her. She is your aunt.

  • Deut 25:9
    68%

    9then his sister-in-law must approach him in view of the elders, remove his sandal from his foot, and spit in his face. She will then respond,“Thus may it be done to any man who does not maintain his brother’s family line!”