Jacob was one of the fathers of the Jewish people. He had 12 sons, the youngest of which was named Joseph. Joseph had been born to Jacob in his old age and, because of this, Jacob gave him a colorful coat to show how special he was. But Joseph's brothers were jealous of him and plotted against him. One day when they were out in the fields, they took off his coat and threw him down a well. Then they sold him to passing merchants and told his father that he had been killed.

One of the brothers who did this was named Judah. He was the fourth son of Jacob and Leah and he would become the father of the Israelite tribe of Judah. Now, just after he and his brothers sold Joseph into slavery, Judah decided it was time to leave home. He went to live in a place called Adullam, where he met a Canaanite woman and fell deeply in love. They got married and started a family soon afterwards. They had three sons together, the first named Er, the second named Onan, and the third named Shelah. But tragedy would befall Judah's family when his first two sons did things of a sexual nature that made God really mad...

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