Verse

Genesis 38:2

ESV There Judah saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua. He took her and went in to her,
NIV There Judah met the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua. He married her and made love to her;
NASB Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua; and he took her as a wife and had relations with her.
CSB There Judah saw the daughter of a Canaanite named Shua; he took her as a wife and slept with her.
NLT There he saw a Canaanite woman, the daughter of Shua, and he married her. When he slept with her,
KJV And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite, whose name was Shuah; and he took her, and went in unto her.
NKJV And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua, and he married her and went in to her.

What does Genesis 38:2 mean?

Abraham's offspring had been told not to take wives from the land of Canaan (Genesis 28:1). This was due to issues of idol worship: later, God would make it explicitly against His law to assimilate with the people of the land which God had promised to Israel (Deuteronomy 7:1–4). Abraham went out of his way to get Isaac a wife from outside of the land (Genesis 24:1–4), and Isaac and Rebekah were not pleased with Esau's Canaanite wives (Genesis 26:34; 27:46). Jacob, as well, had taken wives from his mother's homeland and not from the Canaanite peoples (Genesis 29:10–12).

Apparently defying this directive, Judah takes a Canaanite woman, the daughter of a man named Shua, presumably as his wife. Marriage is not explicitly mentioned but seems to be implied. Judah (Genesis 29:25) has recently conspired with his brothers to sell their younger sibling, Joseph, to slave traders (Genesis 37:26–28). For reasons unknown, Judah then moved away from his brothers and the rest of the family at Hebron to live in a town called Adullam (Genesis 38:1).
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