Genesis 38:4

Summary

Genesis 38:4 continues the narrative of Judah's wife (Shua's daughter, named in the preceding verse) conceiving a second time and bearing a son, whom she names Onan. The verse consists of three sequential verbal actions followed by the naming formula.

Key words

• va-Tahar ("she conceived", H2029) — qal narrative form (vav-consecutive), continuing the story sequence from the prior verse; the subject "she" is carried over, not restated as a noun.
• od ("again", H5750) — adverbial modifier marking this as a repeated action, i.e., a second pregnancy following the one in v.3.
• va-Teled ("she bore", H3205) — qal narrative form, the second link in the verbal chain, denoting the birth itself as distinct from conception.
• va-tikra ("she called", H7121H) — qal narrative form; introduces the naming act, standard in Genesis birth reports.
• shem-o ("his name", H8034 + H9023) — construct noun with pronominal suffix "his," the object of the naming, joined to 'et (H0853), the untranslated direct object marker.

What the text says

The verse is built as a chain of three narrative (vav-consecutive) verbs — va-Tahar ("she conceived"), va-Teled ("she bore"), va-tikra ("she called") — all in the third person feminine singular, continuing the subject established in the prior verse without re-naming her. This chaining structure is typical of Hebrew narrative prose: each verb form signals "and then," producing a rapid sequence of conception, birth, and naming with no independent clauses or subordination.

The adverb od ("again", H5750) is placed directly after the verb "she conceived," marking this pregnancy as a repetition of the one already reported. The naming formula follows the standard Genesis pattern: the verb va-tikra ("she called") takes the direct object marker 'et (untranslated) followed by the construct phrase shem-o ("his name") and the proper name 'Onan (H0209). The construct form of shem ("name") linked to the suffix "his" ties the naming directly to the son just born, rather than to the mother.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew explicitly marks repetition with od ("again", H5750); the Vulgate reflects this with "Rursumque" ("and again"), but the LXX (Swete) text given does not include a corresponding term such as ἔτι, instead moving directly from the participle "συλλαβοῦσα" ("having conceived") to "ἔτεκεν" ("she bore"), without an explicit adverb for "again." Additionally, the LXX renders the child's name as Αύγάν ("Augan"), diverging from the Hebrew 'Onan (H0209), which the Vulgate and other cited versions render as "Onan."