Genesis Chapter 38 verse 8 Holy Bible
And 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.
read chapter 38 in ASV
Then Judah said to Onan, Go in to your brother's wife and do what it is right for a husband's brother to do; make her your wife and get offspring for your brother.
read chapter 38 in BBE
Then 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.
read chapter 38 in DARBY
And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother's wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother.
read chapter 38 in KJV
And Judah said to Onan, Go in to thy brother's wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother.
read chapter 38 in WBT
Judah said to Onan, "Go in to your brother's wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her, and raise up seed to your brother."
read chapter 38 in WEB
And Judah saith to Onan, `Go in unto the wife of thy brother, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother;'
read chapter 38 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 8. - And Judah said unto Onan (obviously after a sufficient interval), Go in unto thy brother's wife, and marry her, - literally, and perform the part of levir, or husband's brother, to her. The language seems to imply that what was afterwards in the code Mosaic known as the Lex Leviratus (Deuteronomy 25:5, 6) was at this time a recognized custom. The existence of the practice has been traced in different frames among Indians, Persians, and other nations of Asia and Africa - and raise up seed to thy brother. As afterwards explained in the Hebrew legislation, the first. born son of such a Levirate marriage became in the eye of the law the child of the deceased husband, and was regarded as his heir.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(8) Go in unto thy brother's wife.--We learn from this that the law of the Levirate, by which the brother of the dead husband was required to marry the widow, was of far more ancient date than the law of Moses. Its object, first of all, was to prevent the extinction of any line of descent, a matter of great importance in those genealogical days; and, secondly, it was an obstacle to the accumulation of landed property in few hands, as the son first born after the Levirate marriage inherited the property of his deceased uncle, while the second son was the representative of the real father. A similar custom existed in parts of India, Persia, &c, and prevails now among the Mongols. The Mosaic Law did not institute, but regulated the custom, confining such marriages to cases where the deceased brother had died without children, and permitting the brother to refuse to marry the widow, under a penalty, nevertheless, of disgrace. Onan, by refusing to take Tamar, may have been actuated by the selfish motive of obtaining for himself the rights of primogeniture, which would otherwise have gone to his eldest son, as the heir of his uncle 'Er.
