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Genesis 38:7-9  New English Translation

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

8 Then Judah said to Onan, “Sleep with[a] your brother’s wife and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her so that you may raise up[b] a descendant for your brother.”[c] 9 But Onan knew that the child[d] would not be considered his.[e] So whenever[f] he slept with[g] his brother’s wife, he wasted his emission on the ground[h] so as not to give his brother a descendant.

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Footnotes

  1. Genesis 38:8 tn Heb “go to” or “approach.” Here the expression is a euphemism for sexual relations.
  2. Genesis 38:8 tn The imperative with the prefixed conjunction here indicates purpose.
  3. Genesis 38:8 sn Raise up a descendant for your brother. The purpose of this custom, called the levirate system, was to ensure that no line of the family would become extinct. The name of the deceased was to be maintained through this custom of having a child by the nearest relative. See M. Burrows, “Levirate Marriage in Israel,” JBL 59 (1940): 23-33.
  4. Genesis 38:9 tn Heb “offspring.”
  5. Genesis 38:9 tn Heb “would not be his,” that is, legally speaking. Under the levirate system the child would be legally considered the child of his deceased brother.
  6. Genesis 38:9 tn The construction, with a vav plus perfect consecutive (veqatal) of הָיָה (hayah) shows that this was a repeated practice and not merely one action.sn The purpose of the custom was to produce an heir for the deceased brother. Onan had no intention of doing that. A possible motivation is that if there was an heir for his older brother, it would have decreased his share of inheritance significantly. But he would have sex with the girl as much as he wished. He was willing to use the law to gratify his desires, but was not willing to fulfill his responsibilities.
  7. Genesis 38:9 tn Heb “he went to” or “approached.” This expression is a euphemism for sexual relations.
  8. Genesis 38:9 tn Heb “he ruined [it] to the ground.” The direct object is implied. Onan deliberately got rid of his semen on the ground so that his brother’s widow would not become pregnant.
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