Genesis 38:6-10 · Bible study
Genesis 38:6-10 Commentary: Onan's Sin and the Levirate Duty
Hebrew · 10 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
An examination of Genesis 38:6-10, where Judah's sons Er and Onan are judged for their wickedness, and the levirate custom is introduced, setting the stage for Tamar's
Research Summary
- Meaning: God judges Er and Onan for wickedness, introducing the levirate marriage custom that will drive the rest of the chapter.
- Key words: “Levirate” (from Latin levir); “spilled it on the ground” (Hebrew shichet, spoiled); “offspring” (zera).
- Main debate: Is Onan's sin specifically coitus interruptus or the refusal to fulfill levirate duty? Most commentators emphasize the latter (Clarke, Calvin).
- Theological theme: God's concern for preserving family lineage and the moral weight of using others selfishly.
- Best use: A sobering case study on hidden sin, the sanctity of marriage duties, and the consequences of selfishness in relationships.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
6Now Judah acquired a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.
7But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD; so the LORD put him to death.
8Then Judah said to Onan, “Sleep with your brother’s wife. Perform your duty as her brother-in-law and raise up offspring for your brother.”
9But Onan knew that the offspring would not belong to him; so whenever he would sleep with his brother’s wife, he would spill his seed on the ground so that he would not produce offspring for his brother.
10What he did was wicked in the sight of the LORD, so He put Onan to death as well.
WEB World English Bible 2000
6Judah took a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.
7Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in Yahweh’s sight. So Yahweh killed him.
8Judah said to Onan, “Go in to your brother’s wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her, and raise up offspring for your brother.”
9Onan knew that the offspring wouldn’t be his; and when he went in to his brother’s wife, he spilled his semen on the ground, lest he should give offspring to his brother.
10The thing which he did was evil in Yahweh’s sight, and he killed him also.
KJV King James Version 1769
6And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, whose name was Tamar.
7And Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord slew him.
8And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother’s wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother.
9And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother’s wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother.
10And the thing which he did displeased the Lord: wherefore he slew him also.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
6And Judah took a wife for Er his first-born, and her name was Tamar.
7And Er, Judah’s first-born, was wicked in the sight of Jehovah; and Jehovah slew him.
8And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother’s wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother unto her, and raise up seed to thy brother.
9And Onan knew that the seed would not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother’s wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest he should give seed to his brother.
10And the thing which he did was evil in the sight of Jehovah: and he slew him also.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
6And Judah taketh a wife for Er, his first-born, and her name is Tamar;
7and Er, Judah's first-born, is evil in the eyes of Jehovah, and Jehovah doth put him to death.
8And Judah saith to Onan, `Go in unto the wife of thy brother, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother;'
9and Onan knoweth that the seed is not reckoned his; and it hath come to pass, if he hath gone in unto his brother's wife, that he hath destroyed it to the earth, so as not to give seed to his brother;
10and that which he hath done is evil in the eyes of Jehovah, and He putteth him also to death.
Darby Darby Bible 1890
6And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.
7And Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of Jehovah, and Jehovah slew him.
8Then Judah said to Onan, Go in to thy brother's wife, and fulfil to her the brother-in-law's duty, and raise up seed to thy brother.
9But when Onan knew that the seed should not be his own, it came to pass when he went in to his brother's wife, that he spilled [it] on the ground, in order to give no seed to his brother.
10And the thing which he did was evil in the sight of Jehovah, and he slew him also.
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
6And Juda took a wife for Her, his first born, whose name was Thamar.
7And Her, the first born of Juda, was wicked in the sight of the Lord: and was slain by him.
8Juda, therefore, said to Onan his son: Go in to thy brother's wife and marry her, that thou mayst raise seed to thy brother.
9He knowing that the children should not be his, when he went in to his brother's wife, he spilled his seed upon the ground, lest children should be born in his brother's name.
10And therefore the Lord slew him, because he did a detestable thing:
Verse in Context
Original Language (Biblical Hebrew)
Old Testament · Biblical Hebrew · Genesis 38:6
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators across traditions agree this passage records God's direct judgment on two of Judah's sons and introduces the ancient levirate marriage custom. Er's wickedness is left unspecified, but Calvin and Gill note the phrase “in Yahweh's sight” indicates a severe moral evil. On Onan, Clarke and Calvin are clear: his sin was not merely self-pollution but the deliberate refusal to raise up offspring for his brother by abusing the levirate duty. The Cambridge Bible identifies this as the first biblical instance of a practice later formalized in Deuteronomy 25:5. Keil and Delitzsch locate these events chronologically after the sale of Joseph, while Matthew Henry laments Judah's Canaanite alliances. Despite differences over details, all agree God holds men accountable for how they treat family lineage and marital obligations.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Medium
Main views:
- Onan's sin as refusal of levirate duty: Commentators like Clarke and Calvin emphasize his motive: he did not want to give offspring to his dead brother. The act of spilling semen was the means, not the core offense.
- Onan's sin as coitus interruptus (contraception): The text explicitly describes him 'spilling his seed on the ground,' and later tradition (including the term 'onanism') interpreted the sin as the act itself, irrespective of the levirate context.
- Er's wickedness as the same as Onan's: Some Jewish exegetes (Targum Jonathan, Jarchi) infer from the similar judgment that Er also refused to procreate, though the text does not say so.
What is clear: God judged both Er and Onan for their actions, and the levirate custom was an established practice in Judah's family, regardless of the precise nature of each son's sin.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Levirate marriage custom | It existed before the Mosaic law as an accepted practice to preserve a brother's name. | Whether Judah's instruction reflects a known law or a spontaneous decision; Cambridge Bible calls it the first biblical instance, while Gill suggests divine direction may have guided Judah. |
| Nature of Onan's sin | His act was evil in Yahweh's sight and led to his death. | Some see the sin as primarily the act of spilling semen (the origin of 'onanism'), but Clarke and Calvin argue it was specifically his refusal to raise up seed for his brother, making his act a violation of levirate duty. |
| Er's unspecified wickedness | He was wicked in Yahweh's sight, a serious enough offense to cause his death. | Jewish traditions (Targum Jonathan, Jarchi) suggest it was the same sin as Onan's. Other commentators (Clarke) leave it unnamed, saying 'the phrase sight of the Lord being added proves that it was some very great evil.' |
| Tamar's background | She is introduced simply as a wife chosen by Judah for Er, likely a Canaanite. | Her name 'palm tree' may hint at fruitfulness, but some (Gill) also speculate about her parentage, interpreting her as possibly the daughter of Shem, though most consider this improbable. |
| God's direct judgment | Yahweh personally takes the lives of Er and Onan as punishment for their sin. | Whether this indicates immediate, violent death or a natural death attributed to God. Most commentators see it as a direct act of divine judgment (Calvin, Matthew Henry). |
Historical & Cultural Context
This passage opens a sudden chapter that interrupts the Joseph narrative, focusing on Judah's family. Judah had separated from his brothers and settled near Adullam in the lowlands of Canaan (Gen 38:1). There he married a Canaanite woman, a daughter of Shua, a choice that Genesis earlier stands against (Gen 24:3). His first two sons, Er and Onan, are born to her, along with a third, Shelah. When Er comes of age, Judah acquires Tamar as his wife, likely a Canaanite herself, given the context.
The custom Judah invokes after Er's death is the levirate (from Latin levir, “brother-in-law”). Under this practice, the brother of a childless deceased man was expected to marry the widow. The firstborn son of that union would inherit the dead brother's name and estate, preserving his lineage. No written law yet commanded it; Keil and Delitzsch describe it as “ancient custom.” Its later codification in Deuteronomy 25:5 shows how deeply rooted it was. The concern for a man's name to survive echoes through the Old Testament.
Tamar's name means “date palm,” a symbol of fruitfulness and beauty, an ironic contrast with the barrenness that threatens her. The narrator does not comment on her ethnicity or character here, but she becomes a central figure in Judah's story. Her silent entry into this family sets up a crisis that will expose hypocrisy and, ultimately, bring redemption.
Textual Notes
The supplied sources note no significant textual variants for Genesis 38:6-10. The Hebrew text is stable across manuscripts. A minor translation difference occurs in verse 8: the KJV renders “marry her” while others have “perform the duty of a husband's brother,” but the underlying Hebrew verb yabam (H2992) carries the same levirate sense.
Reception History
Jewish tradition read this passage as the foundation for the law of yibbum (levirate marriage) codified in Deuteronomy 25:5-10. The Talmud expands on the duties and exemptions. In Christian history, Onan's act gave rise to the term “onanism.” Early church fathers like Augustine and Jerome cited it in arguments against contraception and the misuse of procreative powers. Reformers such as Calvin and Luther emphasized the moral failure of refusing family duty over the physical act itself. In modern reception, the text has been used both to reinforce marriage's procreative purpose and to caution against reducing sexual ethics to single issues. The passage also appears in the genealogy of Jesus (Matthew 1:3), where Tamar is named, a woman who, despite her marginalization, becomes part of the messianic line.
Preaching This Verse
Three-Point Outline
- God judges hidden wickedness, Er's evil is not described but seen by Yahweh. His death shows that no sin stays hidden from God.
- Duty to family is sacred, Onan is commanded to care for his brother's widow and lineage. Levirate marriage was an act of mercy and preservation.
- Selfishness brings ruin, Onan's refusal to give offspring, while still taking the benefits of marriage, is condemned. God sees the heart and the actions that harm others.
Five-Point Outline
- A marriage arranged, Judah finds a wife for Er (v.6). Tamar enters the story as a passive figure, but her role will be decisive.
- Er's evil and death, Wickedness unspecified but fatal (v.7). Yahweh determines the length of life.
- Judah commands the levirate, Onan is told to perform the brother-in-law's duty (v.8). This custom predates Mosaic law.
- Onan's calculated sin, He knows the offspring will not be his, so he spills his semen on the ground (v.9). His act is both selfish and deceptive.
- God's judgment falls again, The thing he did was evil in Yahweh's sight, so he too is killed (v.10). Two sons dead, and the line of Judah in jeopardy.
Illustration Hooks
- A person who uses a relationship for physical pleasure but refuses the responsibility of commitment or family.
- In some cultures today, a man who refuses to support a deceased brother's widow and children is seen as dishonorable, just as Onan's refusal shamed his family.
- A farmer who deliberately lets a field go fallow because he doesn't want to share the harvest with his brother's family.
Questions Your Congregation Is Asking
- Why does God take the death of childless men so seriously in this story?
- Is Onan's sin about contraception, or about refusing to care for his brother's lineage?
- How does Tamar's later place in Jesus' genealogy (Matthew 1:3) change how we see her treatment here?
Leading a Discussion
This short passage confronts us with raw human motives and God's immediate justice. It raises questions about duty, selfishness, and the way God sees what we try to hide. Use these questions to explore the passage together.
Discussion Questions
- Read Genesis 38:6-10 aloud. What stands out to you about how the narrator describes Er's and Onan's actions?
- Why do you think the narrator does not specify what Er's wickedness was? Does that change how you understand his death?
- Onan “knew that the offspring would not be his” (v.9). What does he value more, the duty to his brother or his own legacy? How did he act on that value?
- Calvin and Clarke argue Onan's sin was not primarily masturbation but refusal to raise up seed. How does that affect the moral lesson of the passage?
- This story appears in the middle of Joseph's story. What purpose might it serve in the larger narrative of Genesis?
- Tamar is a silent figure here. How does her presence challenge the men in the story? What does her name (“date palm”) suggest about hope?
- If God took sin seriously enough to strike two men dead, what does that say about how we treat family obligations and sexual ethics today?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Genesis 21:21 | He lived in the wilderness of Paran. His mother got a wife for him out of the land of Egypt. |
| Genesis 24:3 | I will make you swear by Yahweh, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you shall not take a wife for my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live. |
| Matthew 1:3 | Judah became the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar. Perez became the father of Hezron. Hezron became the father of Ram. |
| Genesis 6:8 | But Noah found favor in Yahweh’s eyes. |
| Genesis 13:13 | Now the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinners against Yahweh. |
| Genesis 19:13 | for we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown so great before Yahweh that Yahweh has sent us to destroy it.” |
| Genesis 46:12 | The 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. |
| Numbers 26:19 | The sons of Judah: Er and Onan. Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
Read the devotional page — prayer, application, and "for families"
What the Commentators Say
10 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Adam Clarke's Commentary Methodist/Wesleyan 1826
Clarke corrects a common misunderstanding: Onan's sin was not self-pollution but his deliberate refusal to raise up children for his deceased brother. He also notes that the Hebrew word for Er's wickedness is a reversal of his own name, signaling a completely abandoned character.
Calvin's Commentaries Reformed 1564
Calvin argues that Onan’s sin was not merely selfishness but a deliberate attempt to extinguish his brother’s lineage by spilling seed on the ground. He views this act as a violent theft of family inheritance and a cruel destruction of unborn life, which provoked God’s immediate judgment.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
The Cambridge Bible notes that verse 8 records the first biblical instance of the levirate law, which required a surviving brother to marry his childless brother's widow. The eldest son from such a union would then inherit the deceased brother's name and property.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
The Geneva notes treat Onan’s sin not as a sexual act but as a refusal to fulfill his duty as a kinsman redeemer. By spilling his seed on the ground, he deliberately withheld offspring from his brother’s line to keep the inheritance for himself. This calculated selfishness is what provoked God’s judgment.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill stresses that the practice of a brother marrying his deceased sibling's widow was not borrowed from Canaanites but came from divine revelation, passed down from the patriarchs. He sees Onan's sin as especially grave because it deliberately obstructed the multiplication of Abraham's promised seed, which would lead to the Messiah.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary Protestant 1871
JFB points out that this episode provides the first biblical example of the custom later formalized in the Law of Moses. Under that custom, a man was expected to marry his widowed sister-in-law, and any child born would be considered the heir of the deceased brother.
Keil & Delitzsch OT Commentary Protestant 1876
Keil and Delitzsch argue that Judah’s separation from his brothers occurred before Joseph’s sale, fitting the twenty-three year gap between that event and Jacob’s migration to Egypt. They view Onan’s sin as a deliberate refusal to provide an heir for his brother, driven by greed rather than mere disobedience. This act violated the ancient tradition of levirate marriage, which aimed to preserve a deceased man’s family line and inheritance.
Lange's Commentary Reformed 1857
Lange argues this narrative parallels Joseph’s story by showing Judah’s apparent ruin concealing future greatness. He highlights Judah’s bold self-reliance and sensuality, balanced by a strong sense of justice that leads him to admit his guilt. This combination reveals a distinct feature of theocratic faith within Judah’s character.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Matthew Henry warns that changing company leads to changed character, especially in youth. He sees Judah, barely sixteen, as an example: leaving his brethren and befriending
Wesley's Explanatory Notes Methodist/Wesleyan 1754
Wesley highlights Onan's sin as a deliberate refusal to provide offspring for his deceased brother, which dishonors his own body, his wife, and his brother's memory. He stresses that sins against the body are especially offensive to God and warns that many unmarried people still commit similar acts that bring spiritual ruin.