Genesis 38:13-19

Common English Bible

¹³ Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is now on his way up to Timnah to shear his sheep.” ¹⁴ So Tamar took off the clothing she wore as a widow, covered herself with a veil, put on makeup,^[a] and sat down at the entrance to Enaim on the road to Timnah, since she realized that although Shelah had already grown up, she hadn’t been given to him as a wife.

¹⁵ Judah saw her and thought she was a prostitute because she had covered her face. ¹⁶ He turned to her beside the road and said, “Let me sleep with you,” because he didn’t know she was his daughter-in-law.

She said, “What will you give me for sleeping with you?”

¹⁷ He said, “I will give you a kid goat from my flock.”

She said, “Only if you give me some deposit, as security to guarantee that you will send it.”

¹⁸ He said, “What kind of deposit should I give you?”

And she said, “Your seal, its cord, and the staff in your hand.” He gave these to her, slept with her, and she became pregnant by him.

¹⁹ Then she got up, left, and took off her veil, dressing once again in the clothing she wore as a widow.