Genesis 38

28 As they were being born, one of them reached out his hand, and the midwife tied a scarlet thread around the wrist of the child who appeared first, saying, "This one came out first."

29 But then he drew back his hand, and the other baby was actually the first to be born. "What!" the midwife exclaimed. "How did you break out first?" And ever after, he was called Perez.*¹

30 Then the baby with the scarlet thread on his wrist was born, and he was named Zerah.*²

Read Genesis 39

1: Perez means “breaking out.”

2: Zerah means “scarlet” or “brightness.”

^{New Living Translation Bible and Notes used with permission Tyndale House Publishers.}