Genesis 38 — AAB
Judah and Tamar
38Verse 1About that time, Judah left his brothers and settled near a man named Hirah, an Adullamite.Verse 2There Judah saw the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua, and he took her as a wife and slept with her.Verse 3So she conceived and gave birth to a son, and Judah named him Er.Verse 4Again she conceived and gave birth to a son, and she named him Onan.Verse 5Then she gave birth to another son and named him Shelah; it was at Chezib that she gave birth to him.Verse 6Now Judah acquired a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.Verse 7But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD; so the LORD put him to death.Verse 8Then Judah said to Onan, “Sleep with your brother’s wife. Perform your duty as her brother-in-law and raise up offspring for your brother.”Verse 9But Onan knew that the offspring would not belong to him; so whenever he would sleep with his brother’s wife, he would spill his seed on the ground so that he would not produce offspring for his brother.Verse 10What he did was wicked in the sight of the LORD, so He put Onan to death as well.Verse 11Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Live as a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah grows up.” For he thought, “He may die too, like his brothers.” So Tamar went to live in her father’s house.Verse 12After a long time Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had finished mourning, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went up to his sheepshearers at Timnah.Verse 13When Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep,”Verse 14she removed her widow’s garments, covered her face with a veil to disguise herself, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the way to Timnah. For she saw that although Shelah had grown up, she had not been given to him as a wife.Verse 15When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute because she had covered her face.Verse 16Not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, he went over to her and said, “Come now, let me sleep with you.”“What will you give me for sleeping with you?” she inquired.Verse 17“I will send you a young goat from my flock,” Judah answered.
But she replied, “Only if you leave me something as a pledge until you send it.”Verse 18“What pledge should I give you?” he asked.
She answered, “Your seal and your cord, and the staff in your hand.” So he gave them to her and slept with her, and she became pregnant by him.Verse 19Then Tamar got up and departed. And she removed her veil and put on her widow’s garments again.Verse 20Now when Judah sent his friend Hirah the Adullamite with the young goat to collect the items he had left with the woman, he could not find her.Verse 21He asked the men of that place, “Where is the shrine prostitute who was beside the road at Enaim?”
“No shrine prostitute has been here,” they answered.Verse 22So Hirah returned to Judah and said, “I could not find her, and furthermore, the men of that place said, ‘No shrine prostitute has been here.’”Verse 23“Let her keep the items,” Judah replied. “Otherwise we will become a laughingstock.+After all, I did send her this young goat, but you could not find her.”Verse 24About three months later, Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has prostituted herself, and now she is pregnant.”
“Bring her out!” Judah replied. “Let her be burned to death!”Verse 25As she was being brought out, Tamar sent a message to her father-in-law: “I am pregnant by the man to whom these items belong.” And she added, “Please examine them. Whose seal and cord and staff are these?”Verse 26Judah recognized the items and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not have relations with her again.