Bible Strands
Genesis 38:5
Then she gave birth to another son and named him Shelah; it was at Chezib that she gave birth to him.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Judah’s Canaanite wife bears a third son after Onan, with the narrative tracking the expansion of his household in Canaan.
The words — The Hebrew וַתּוֹסֶף (va.tosef, “and she added/repeated”) paired with עוֹד (‘od, “again”) marks this birth as a sequential addition to the same mother’s children.
The thread — The text records the birth at Chezib to establish the Shelanite clan cited in Numbers 26:20 and to create the lineage context for Genesis 38:11 and Genesis 38:26.
Why it lands — The verse functions as a genealogical checkpoint that logs Judah’s offspring while leaving Shelah’s status unresolved for the narrative’s next development.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And she yet again conceived, and bare a son; and called his name Shelah: and he was at Chezib, when she bare him.
Cross-references
- Numbers 26:20 These were the descendants of Judah by their clans: The Shelanite clan from Shelah, the Perezite clan from Perez, and the Zerahite clan from Zerah.
- Genesis 38:11 Then Judah 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, like his brothers.” So Tamar went to live in her father’s house.
- Genesis 38:26 Judah recognized the items and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not have relations with her again.
- 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: Hezron and Hamul.
- 1 Chronicles 4:21 The sons of Shelah son of Judah: Er the father of Lecah, Laadah the father of Mareshah and the clans of the linen workers at Beth-ashbea,