Person Old Testament
Er
Er, Judah's firstborn son, was killed by God because of his wickedness. Mentioned in 6 verses across 3 books, first at Genesis 38:3.
Why it matters. Judah's firstborn son, killed by God for his wickedness.
- Primary passages
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-30 by the FaithGraph team
About Er
Er was the firstborn son of Judah and his Canaanite wife, the daughter of Shua (Gen. 38:3; 1Ch. 2:3). He married Tamar, but the Lord put him to death because of his wickedness (Gen. 38:6-7). The nature of his wickedness is not specified in the text.
After Er's death, Judah instructed his second son, Onan, to marry Tamar and produce offspring for his deceased brother, a practice known as levirate marriage (Gen. 38:8). However, Onan also displeased the Lord and was put to death (Gen. 38:9-10).
Er is mentioned again in the genealogy of Judah (Gen. 46:12; Num. 26:19; 1Ch. 2:3), which highlights the significance of his lineage despite his early death. His inclusion in these genealogies emphasizes the importance of Judah's descendants, particularly in light of the Messianic promise that would ultimately be fulfilled through this tribe (Gen. 49:10).
Description from STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, lightly reformatted. This is background reference material, not Scripture and not a FaithGraph editorial claim.
Connections
No reviewed connections yet.
Family
Family links from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0). Where the dataset marks an identification as uncertain, the mark is kept. Matthew and Luke give different genealogies for Jesus; see the Lineage page, which never merges them.
- Spouse
- Tamar
Appears in Scripture
Named in 6 verses across 3 books. Occurrence data from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0); references only, no translation text.