Person Old Testament
Shelah
Also known as Shelanite
Shelah, Judah's third son, and his descendants, the Shelanites. Mentioned in 8 verses across 3 books, first at Genesis 38:5.
Why it matters. Judah's youngest son and his descendants
- Primary passages
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-30 by the FaithGraph team
About Shelah
Shelah was the third and youngest son of Judah, born to him in Chezib (Gen.38.5). After the deaths of his older brothers, Er and Onan, Judah promised Tamar, Er's widow, that Shelah would marry her when he grew up. However, Judah did not keep this promise (Gen.38.11,14,26).
Shelah's descendants were called Shelanites (Num.26.20) and were one of the clans of Judah. They were included in the census of the tribe of Judah in the wilderness (Num.26.20) and in the genealogies of Judah (1Ch.2.3; 4.21). Shelah's descendants included potters and linen workers who lived in Judah (1Ch.4.21-23).
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.
Appears in Scripture
Named in 8 verses across 3 books. Occurrence data from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0); references only, no translation text.