Genesis Chapter 38
Judah and Tamar
1 About that time, Judah left his brothers and went down to visit an Adullamite named Hirah. 2 He saw the daughter of a Canaanite named Shuamas. He married her and slept with her. 3 She had a son he named Er, 4 another he named Onan, 5 and one he named Shelah. That happened at Chezib.
6 Judah took a wife named Tamar for Er his firstborn. 7 But Er did what Yahveh considered evil, so he took Er’s life. 8 Judah told Onan, “Sleep with your brother’s wife and perform your duty as a brother-in-law to her. Raise up offspring for your brother.” 9 Onan knew the offspring wouldn’t be his; so when he slept with her, he ejected his semen on the ground so he wouldn’t provide offspring for his brother. 10 That displeased Yahveh; so he took his life too. 11 Judah told Tamar, “Remain a widow in your father’s family till my son Shelah grows up.” (He told himself, “I’m afraid he’ll die like his brothers.”) Tamar went and lived in her father’s family.
Gen 38:1-11
12 After quite a while, Shua’s daughter, Judah’s wife, died. After the time of mourning, Judah went up to his sheepshearers at Timnah with his friend Hirah the Adullamite. 13 Tamar found out that her father-in-law was going there to shear his sheep. 14 She took off her widow’s clothes, put on a veil, wrapped herself, and sat in the gate of Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. She’d seen that Shelah had grown up, but Judah hadn’t given her to him as a wife. 15 When Judah saw her, he thought she was a shrine prostitute, because she’d covered her face. 16 He turned aside to her by the road, and said, “Let me sleep with you.”
“What will you give me?”
17 “I’ll send you a kid from the flock.”
“Will you give me a pledge till you send it?”
18 “What pledge do you want?”
“Your seal and cord, and the staff that’s in your hand.”
He gave them to her and slept with her, and she got pregnant. 19 She got up and left, took off her veil, and put her widow’s clothes back on.
Gen 38:12-19
20 When Judah sent the kid by his friend the Adullamite to get back the pledge, he couldn’t find her. 21 He asked the men there, “Where’s the shrine prostitute that was by the road at Enaim?”
“There hasn’t been any shrine prostitute here.”
22 So he went back, “I couldn’t find her. The men said there hasn’t been any shrine prostitute there. 23 Judah said, “Let her keep them so they don’t ridicule us. I did send this kid, but you couldn’t find her.”
Gen 38:20-23
24 About three months later, Judah was informed, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has served as a shrine prostitute and got pregnant.”
Judah said, “Bring her out and burn her!”
25 While she was being brought out, she sent to her father-in-law, “I’m pregnant by the man that owns these things. See whose signet ring, cords, and staff they are.”
26 Judah recognized them, “She’s better than I am, because I didn’t give her to my son Shelah.” He never slept with her again.
27 When it was time for her to deliver, she was carrying twins. 28 As she was giving birth, one put out a hand, and the midwife tied a red thread on it, “This one came out first.” 29 But he pulled his hand back and his brother came out. The midwife said, “What a ‘breach’ you’ve made for yourself”; so he was named Perez. 30 Afterward his brother was born with the “red” thread on his hand. He was named Zerah.
Gen 38:24-30