Genesis 38:12-26

International Standard Version

¹² Some years later, Shua’s daughter (that is, Judah’s wife) died. As Judah was grieving, he visited the shearers of his flock in Timnah, accompanied by his Adullamite friend Hirah.

Tamar Avenges Judah’s Treachery

¹³ “Look!” somebody reported to Tamar, “Your father-in-law is going to Timnah to shear his sheep.” ¹⁴ So she took off her mourning apparel, covered herself with a shawl, and concealed her outward appearance. Then she went out and sat at the entrance of Enaim, which is on the way to Timnah, because she knew that even though Shelah had grown up, she wasn’t being given to him as his wife.

¹⁵ When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, since she had concealed her face. ¹⁶ So on the way, he turned aside, approached her, and said, “Come on! Let’s have some sex!” But he didn’t realize that he was talking to his own daughter-in-law.

“What will you give me,” she asked, “in order to have sex with me?”

¹⁷ “I’ll send you a young goat from the flock,” he responded.

But she pressed him, asking, “What security will you put up until you’ve sent it?”

¹⁸ Then he asked, “What pledge do you want me to give you?”

“Your signet ring, cord, and the staff in your hand,” she suggested. So he gave them to her, had sex with her, and she became pregnant by him. ¹⁹ Then she got up and left. Later, she took off her shawl and put on her mourning clothes.

²⁰ Later on, Judah sent his Adullamite friend to take her a young goat, intending to retrieve what he had put up as security from the woman, but he could not find her. ²¹ He asked the men who lived in that area, “Where’s that temple prostitute who was sitting alongside the road at Enaim?”

But they replied, “There’s been no temple prostitute here.”

²² So he returned to Judah and said, “I haven’t found her. Also, the men who are from there said, ‘There’s been no prostitute here.’”

²³ Then Judah said, “Let her have those things.^[a] Otherwise, we’ll become contemptible. I sent this young goat, but you didn’t find her.”

Tamar’s Pregnancy Rebukes Judah

²⁴ Three months later, it was reported to Judah, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has turned to prostitution!^[b] And look! She’s pregnant because of it!”

“Bring her out,” Judah responded. “Let’s burn her to death!”

²⁵ While they were bringing her out, she sent this message to her father-in-law: “I am pregnant by the man to whom these things belong. Furthermore,” she added, “tell me to whom this signet ring, cord, and staff belongs.”

²⁶ When Judah recognized them, he admitted, “She is more upright than I, because I never did give her my son Shelah.” And he never had sex with her again.