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Genesis 38:27

in Genesis 38

When the time came for Tamar to give birth, there were twins in her womb.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

And it came to pass in the time of her travail, that, behold, twins were in her womb.

KJV

And it came to pass in the time of her travail, that, behold, twins were in her womb.

This verse in Genesis 38

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

there were twins in her womb

on Genesis 38:27-28

Twins are in the womb, and Wesley hears the struggle of Jacob and Esau at Genesis 25:22 breaking out again in the family that came from it. One hand comes out first, the midwife ties a scarlet thread around the wrist, and Clarke reads the thread as the care taken over the right of the firstborn. The hand goes back in.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers2 voices

A commentator

John Chrysostom

HOMILIES ON GENESIS 62.8-9 · Written in the 5th century.

proposed

Observe in this, I ask you, a mystery and a prediction of what is to come. You see, after the midwife bound the scarlet thread around his hand to make Zerah recognizable, then "he drew his hand back, and his brother came out." He yielded precedence to his brother, it is saying, and the one thought last came out first, and the one thought first emerged after him. "The midwife said, 'What a breach you have made for yourself!' He was called Perez." The name, in fact, means "breach" or "division," as you might say. "After him came his brother with the mark on his right hand; he was given the name Zerah," which means "sunrise."It was not idly or to no purpose that these things happened; rather, it was a type of things to come, revealing the events themselves. You see, what happened was not according to natural processes. I mean, how would it have been possible, after his hand was bound with crimson, for him to draw back again and give way to the one after him, unless there were some divine power arranging this in advance? It was also prefiguring, as if in a kind of shadow, the fact that right from the outset Zerah, which means sunrise (he is, after all, a type of the church), began to peer ahead; as he moved gradually forward and then retired, the legal observance denoted by Perez made its entrance. After that had held precedence for a long time, the former one—I mean Zerah, who had retired—came forward, and the whole Judaic way of life in turn yielded place to the church.

A commentator

Jerome

LETTER 123.12 · Written before 420.

proposed

What is one to say of Tamar, who brought to birth the twins Zerah and Perez? Their separation at the moment of birth was like a wall that divides the two peoples, and the hand tied with the scarlet ribbon already then speckled the conscience of the Jews with the passion of Christ.

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

5 And she yet again conceived, and bare a son; and called his name Shelah: and he was at Chezib, when she bare him. 6 And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, whose name was Tamar. 7 And Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the L ORD ; and the L ORD slew him.

quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — scripture-overlap:93%@v5-7

And it came to pass in the time of her travail,.... When her time to bring forth was come, and her pains were on her, and her midwife with her: that, behold, twins were in her womb; which the midwife could discover before the birth of either.

The words behind it

6 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיְהִ֖יand it was

    vayhiH19613559 times

  • בְּעֵ֣תat [the] time

    beetH6256296 times

  • לִדְתָּ֑הּgave birth she

    lidtahH3205496 times

  • וְהִנֵּ֥הand there!

    vehinehH2009843 times

  • תְאוֹמִ֖יםtwins

    teomimH8380

  • בְּבִטְנָֽהּ׃[were] in womb her

    bevitnahH99072 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Where this verse is studied

On this page

Studies2

About Genesis

The Creation of Light, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Creation of Light, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jerome, LETTER 123.12; John Chrysostom, HOMILIES ON GENESIS 62.8-9; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.