Perez

Son of Judah and Tamar, and the house Bethlehem remembered

Also written: Phares (Greek form, Matthew 1:3)

Place in the genealogy

Matthew · name 5 · Abraham forward to JesusFrom Abraham to David: the promiseMatthew 1:3Born 'of Thamar', the first of the four women Matthew names.
Luke · name 52 · Jesus back to AdamFrom Jesse back to AbrahamLuke 3:33

Where Scripture records this person

Genesis 38:27-30Born a twin, and named for the breach at his birth.
Numbers 26:20-21The family of the Pharzites, counted in Judah's tribe.
Ruth 4:12, 18Bethlehem blesses Boaz's house as the house of Perez, and the line is traced from him.
1 Chronicles 2:4-5Listed in Judah's descendants.

Who this person is in Scripture

Scripture tells us little about Perez himself. What it records is his birth, his name, his family among Judah's clans, and that his house became a byword for a blessed household in Bethlehem. He is a link the Bible keeps naming, not a life the Bible narrates.

Family, as Scripture gives it

Father: Judah
Mother: Tamar
Children: Hezron, Hamul
Siblings: Zerah

What this teaches

The Bible is willing to leave a man's life largely unrecorded and still name him in the line to Christ. Being useful to God's purpose is not the same as being famous.

Read in the Bible

Back to the genealogy of Jesus