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Person · Tribe of Judah

Onan

Man living at the time of Egypt and Wilderness

Onan was the second son of Judah, who was punished by God for his wicked actions.

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Onan was the second son of Judah and his Canaanite wife, the daughter of Shua (Gen.38.4; 1Ch.2.3). After the death of his older brother Er, Judah instructed Onan to marry Er's widow, Tamar, and produce an heir for his brother (Gen.38.8). However, Onan, knowing that the child would not be his own, practiced coitus interruptus to avoid providing an heir for his brother (Gen.38.9). This act was displeasing to the Lord, and as a result, God put Onan to death (Gen.38.10). Onan's death left Tamar without an heir and set the stage for the unusual events that followed, which ultimately led to the birth of Perez and Zerah, twin sons of Judah and Tamar (Gen.38.27-30). Onan is also mentioned in the genealogies of Judah (Gen.46.12; Num.26.19; 1Ch.2.3).

Family

Father
Judah
Mother
Bath-shua
Siblings
ErShelahPerezZerah

Connections

Judah and Tamar: a failed levirate and its consequence

FamilyStated in the text

Tamar married Judah's sons Er and Onan, both died, and Judah withheld Shelah. Tamar disguised herself and conceived twins by Judah himself. Judah admitted "She is more righteous than I," and his later conduct toward Benjamin shows a changed man.

JudahSon of IsraelTamarJudah's daughter-in-law who bore Perez and ZerahErSon of JudahOnanSon of JudahShelahSon of Judah
Where the text shows it: Gen 38:6-10 — Er and Onan dieGen 38:14-19 — Tamar conceives through JudahGen 38:26 — Judah: "She is more righteous than I"Gen 44:33 — Judah offers himself in place of Benjamin

Sources: Gen 38:6-10 · Gen 38:14-19 · Gen 38:26 · Gen 44:33

More background: search Wikipedia ↗

Bible dictionary

Onan Easton Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897)

Strong, the second son of Judah (Gen. 38:4-10; comp. Deut. 25:5; Matt. 22:24). He died before the going down of Jacob and his family into Egypt.

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Onan Smith Smith’s Bible Dictionary (1863)

(strong), the second son of Judah by the Canaanitess, “the daughter of Shua.” (Genesis 38:4; 1 Chronicles 2:3) “What he did was evil in the eyes of Jehovah and he slew him also, as he had slain his elder brother. (Genesis 38:9) His death took place before the family of Jacob went down into Egypt. (Genesis 46:12; Numbers 26:19) (B.C. 1706.)

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Onan Hastings Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible (1898)

O'NAN (strong), the second son of Judah, Gen 38:4; 1 Chr 2:3, who refused to raise up seed to his elder brother after his death. Gen 38:8-9. He died before the migration of Jacob's family to Egypt. Gen 46:12; Num 26:19.

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Onan Schaff Schaff’s Dictionary of the Bible

O'NAN (strong), the second son of Judah, Gen 38:4; 1 Chr 2:3, who refused to raise up seed to his elder brother after his death. Gen 38:8-9.

He died before the migration of Jacob's family to Egypt. Gen 46:12; Num 26:19.

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Easton (1897), Smith (1863), Hitchcock (1869), Hastings (1898) and Schaff are in the public domain. Parsed text: neuu-org/bible-dictionary-dataset (CC BY 4.0). Headwords and whitespace normalised for this site.

Where Onan appears

6 verses in 3 books · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s H0209

Genesis4
Numbers1
1 Chronicles1

Names, family links and references: STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Short descriptions were drafted with AI assistance by STEPBible. Family links follow STEPBible’s scholarly decisions where genealogies are ambiguous.