Shuah or Shua (, "opulence" or "cry for help") was a certain
Canaanite, whose unnamed daughter marries
Judah. He was thereby also the grandfather of
Er,
Onan,
Shelah. The
Targum translates "Canaanite man" as "merchant", and
Rashi refers to this. In the
Talmud,
Pesachim 50a, there is a discussion explaining this translation. In the
King James Version, Genesis 38:2 reads "And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite, whose name was Shuah ..." This is ambiguous as to who is named Shuah, the Canaanite or his daughter. This has led some to say that Shuah was Judah's wife. Shuah in Greek is , transliterated Sava. The
Septuagint is explicit that Sava is the daughter of the Canaanite man and the wife of Judah. The reference to Judah's wife in Genesis 38:12 refers to her as the "daughter of Shuah", or "bat-Shuah" in Hebrew. This has led some to take Bat-Shuah (and variants) as her actual name. A
midrashic tradition says her name was Aliyath. Bat-Shuah is also an alternative name for
Bathsheba, wife of Judah's descendant, King
David. ==1 Chronicles 4==