Perez

Who is Perez?

According to the Book of Genesis, Pharez/Perez was the son of Tamar and Judah, and the twin of Zerah. The name is transliterated to English as both "Perez" and "Pharez". Perez, in Hebrew means "breach or burst forth" and is named after the narrative of his birth as recorded in Genesis 38:29. The Book of Ruth lists Perez as being part of the ancestral genealogy of King David, and the Gospel of Matthew includes him when specifying the genealogy of Jesus.

According to biblical scholars, the birth narrative may be an etiological myth explaining the origin of parts of the tribe of Judah.