Genesis 38
New American Standard Bible
Judah and Tamar
38 And it came about at that time, that Judah [a]departed from his brothers and [b]visited a certain (A)Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. 2 Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was (B)Shua; and he took her as a wife and had relations with her. 3 And she conceived and gave birth to a son, and he named him (C)Er. 4 Then she conceived again and gave birth to a son, and she named him (D)Onan. 5 She gave birth to yet another son and named him (E)Shelah; and it was at Chezib [c]that she gave birth to him.
6 Now Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. 7 But (F)Er, Judah’s firstborn, was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord took his life. 8 Then Judah said to Onan, “(G)Have relations with your brother’s wife and perform your duty as a brother-in-law to her, and raise up a [d]child for your brother.” 9 Now Onan knew that the [e](H)child would not be his; so when he had relations with his brother’s wife, he [f]wasted his seed on the ground so that he would not give [g]a child to his brother. 10 But what he did was displeasing in the sight of the Lord; so He (I)took his life also. 11 Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “(J)Remain a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah grows up”; for he [h]thought, “I am afraid that he too may die like his brothers.” So Tamar went and lived in her father’s house.
12 Now [i]after a considerable time Shua’s daughter, the wife of Judah, died; and when [j]the time of mourning was ended, Judah went up to his sheepshearers at (K)Timnah, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. 13 And Tamar was told, “Behold, your father-in-law is going up to (L)Timnah to shear his sheep.” 14 So she [k]removed her widow’s garments and (M)covered herself with a [l]veil, and wrapped herself, and sat in the gateway of [m]Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah had grown up, and (N)she had not been given to him as a wife. 15 When Judah saw her, he assumed she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. 16 So he turned aside to her by the road, and said, “[n]Here now, let me have relations with you”; for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. And she said, “What will you give me, that you may have relations with me?” 17 He said, therefore, “I will send you a [o]young goat from the flock.” She then said, “Will you give a pledge until you send it?” 18 He said, “What pledge shall I give you?” And she said, “(O)Your seal and your cord, and your staff that is in your hand.” So he gave them to her and had relations with her, and she conceived by him. 19 Then she got up and departed, and [p]removed her [q]veil and put on her widow’s garments.
20 When Judah sent the [r]young goat by his friend the Adullamite, to receive the pledge from the woman’s hand, he did not find her. 21 He asked the people of her place, saying, “Where is the temple prostitute who was by the road at Enaim?” But they said, “There has been no temple prostitute here.” 22 So he returned to Judah, and said, “I did not find her; and furthermore, the people of the place said, ‘There has been no temple prostitute here.’” 23 Then Judah said, “Let her [s]keep them, otherwise we will become a laughingstock. [t]After all, I sent this young goat, but you did not find her.”
24 Now it was about three months later that Judah was [u]informed, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has prostituted herself, and behold, she is also pregnant by prostitution.” Then Judah said, “Bring her out and (P)have her burned!” 25 It was while she was being brought out that she sent word to her father-in-law, saying, “I am pregnant by the man to whom these things belong.” She also said, “(Q)Please examine and see, whose signet ring and cords and staff are these?” 26 And Judah recognized them, and said, “(R)She is more righteous than I, since (S)I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not [v]have relations with her again.
27 It came about at the time she was giving birth, that behold, there were (T)twins in her womb. 28 Moreover, it took place while she was giving birth, that one baby put out a hand, and the midwife took and tied a scarlet thread on his hand, saying, “This one came out first.” 29 But it came about as he drew back his hand that behold, his brother came out. Then she said, “What a breach you have made for yourself!” So he was named [w](U)Perez. 30 Afterward his brother came out who had the scarlet thread on his hand; and he was named [x](V)Zerah.
Footnotes
- Genesis 38:1 Lit went down
- Genesis 38:1 Lit turned aside to
- Genesis 38:5 Lit when
- Genesis 38:8 Lit seed
- Genesis 38:9 Lit seed
- Genesis 38:9 Lit spilled on the ground
- Genesis 38:9 Lit seed
- Genesis 38:11 Lit said
- Genesis 38:12 Lit the days became many and
- Genesis 38:12 Lit Judah was comforted, he
- Genesis 38:14 Lit removed from herself
- Genesis 38:14 Or shawl
- Genesis 38:14 In Josh 15:34, Enam
- Genesis 38:16 Or Come, now
- Genesis 38:17 Lit kid of goats
- Genesis 38:19 Lit removed from herself
- Genesis 38:19 Or shawl
- Genesis 38:20 Lit kid of goats by the hand of
- Genesis 38:23 Lit take for herself
- Genesis 38:23 Lit Behold
- Genesis 38:24 Lit informed, saying
- Genesis 38:26 Lit know her yet again
- Genesis 38:29 I.e., a breach
- Genesis 38:30 I.e., a dawning or brightness
Genesis 38
King James Version
38 And it came to pass at that time, that Judah went down from his brethren, and turned in to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.
2 And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite, whose name was Shuah; and he took her, and went in unto her.
3 And she conceived, and bare a son; and he called his name Er.
4 And she conceived again, and bare a son; and she called his name Onan.
5 And she yet again conceived, and bare a son; and called his name Shelah: and he was at Chezib, when she bare him.
6 And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, whose name was Tamar.
7 And Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord slew him.
8 And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother's wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother.
9 And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother.
10 And the thing which he did displeased the Lord: wherefore he slew him also.
11 Then said Judah to Tamar his daughter in law, Remain a widow at thy father's house, till Shelah my son be grown: for he said, Lest peradventure he die also, as his brethren did. And Tamar went and dwelt in her father's house.
12 And in process of time the daughter of Shuah Judah's wife died; and Judah was comforted, and went up unto his sheepshearers to Timnath, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite.
13 And it was told Tamar, saying, Behold thy father in law goeth up to Timnath to shear his sheep.
14 And she put her widow's garments off from her, and covered her with a vail, and wrapped herself, and sat in an open place, which is by the way to Timnath; for she saw that Shelah was grown, and she was not given unto him to wife.
15 When Judah saw her, he thought her to be an harlot; because she had covered her face.
16 And he turned unto her by the way, and said, Go to, I pray thee, let me come in unto thee; (for he knew not that she was his daughter in law.) And she said, What wilt thou give me, that thou mayest come in unto me?
17 And he said, I will send thee a kid from the flock. And she said, Wilt thou give me a pledge, till thou send it?
18 And he said, What pledge shall I give thee? And she said, Thy signet, and thy bracelets, and thy staff that is in thine hand. And he gave it her, and came in unto her, and she conceived by him.
19 And she arose, and went away, and laid by her vail from her, and put on the garments of her widowhood.
20 And Judah sent the kid by the hand of his friend the Adullamite, to receive his pledge from the woman's hand: but he found her not.
21 Then he asked the men of that place, saying, Where is the harlot, that was openly by the way side? And they said, There was no harlot in this place.
22 And he returned to Judah, and said, I cannot find her; and also the men of the place said, that there was no harlot in this place.
23 And Judah said, Let her take it to her, lest we be shamed: behold, I sent this kid, and thou hast not found her.
24 And it came to pass about three months after, that it was told Judah, saying, Tamar thy daughter in law hath played the harlot; and also, behold, she is with child by whoredom. And Judah said, Bring her forth, and let her be burnt.
25 When she was brought forth, she sent to her father in law, saying, By the man, whose these are, am I with child: and she said, Discern, I pray thee, whose are these, the signet, and bracelets, and staff.
26 And Judah acknowledged them, and said, She hath been more righteous than I; because that I gave her not to Shelah my son. And he knew her again no more.
27 And it came to pass in the time of her travail, that, behold, twins were in her womb.
28 And it came to pass, when she travailed, that the one put out his hand: and the midwife took and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread, saying, This came out first.
29 And it came to pass, as he drew back his hand, that, behold, his brother came out: and she said, How hast thou broken forth? this breach be upon thee: therefore his name was called Pharez.
30 And afterward came out his brother, that had the scarlet thread upon his hand: and his name was called Zarah.
Genesis 38
Living Bible
38 About this time, Judah left home and moved to Adullam and lived there with a man named Hirah. 2 There he met and married a Canaanite girl—the daughter of Shua. 3-5 They lived at Chezib and had three sons, Er, Onan, and Shelah. These names were given to them by their mother, except for Er, who was named by his father.
6 When his oldest son, Er, grew up, Judah arranged for him to marry a girl named Tamar. 7 But Er was a wicked man, and so the Lord killed him.
8 Then Judah said to Er’s brother, Onan, “You must marry Tamar, as our law requires of a dead man’s brother; so that her sons from you will be your brother’s heirs.”
9 But Onan was not willing to have a child who would not be counted as his own, and so, although he married her,[a] whenever he went in to sleep with her, he spilled the sperm on the bed to prevent her from having a baby which would be his brother’s. 10 So far as the Lord was concerned, it was very wrong of him to deny a child to his deceased brother, so he killed him, too. 11 Then Judah told Tamar, his daughter-in-law, not to marry again at that time, but to return to her childhood home and to her parents, and to remain a widow there until his youngest son, Shelah, was old enough to marry her. (But he didn’t really intend for Shelah to do this, for fear God would kill him, too, just as he had his two brothers.) So Tamar went home to her parents.
12 In the process of time Judah’s wife died. After the time of mourning was over, Judah and his friend Hirah, the Adullamite, went to Timnah to supervise the shearing of his sheep. 13 When someone told Tamar that her father-in-law had left for the sheepshearing at Timnah, 14 and realizing by now that she was not going to be permitted to marry Shelah, though he was fully grown, she laid aside her widow’s clothing and covered herself with a veil to disguise herself, and sat beside the road at the entrance to the village of Enaim, which is on the way to Timnah. 15 Judah noticed her as he went by and thought she was a prostitute, since her face was veiled. 16 So he stopped and propositioned her to sleep with him, not realizing of course that she was his own daughter-in-law.
“How much will you pay me?” she asked.
17 “I’ll send you a young goat from my flock,” he promised.
“What pledge will you give me, so that I can be sure you will send it?” she asked.
18 “Well, what do you want?” he inquired.
“Your identification seal and your walking stick,” she replied. So he gave them to her and she let him come and sleep with her; and she became pregnant as a result. 19 Afterwards she resumed wearing her widow’s clothing as usual. 20 Judah asked his friend Hirah the Adullamite to take the young goat back to her, and to pick up the pledges he had given her, but Hirah couldn’t find her!
21 So he asked around of the men of the city, “Where does the prostitute live who was soliciting out beside the road at the entrance of the village?”
“But we’ve never had a public prostitute here,” they replied. 22 So he returned to Judah and told him he couldn’t find her anywhere, and what the men of the place had told him.
23 “Then let her keep them!” Judah exclaimed. “We tried our best. We’d be the laughingstock of the town to go back again.”
24 About three months later word reached Judah that Tamar, his daughter-in-law, was pregnant, obviously as a result of prostitution.
“Bring her out and burn her,” Judah shouted.
25 But as they were taking her out to kill her she sent this message to her father-in-law: “The man who owns this identification seal and walking stick is the father of my child. Do you recognize them?”
26 Judah admitted that they were his and said, “She is more in the right than I am, because I refused to keep my promise to give her to my son Shelah.” But he did not marry her.
27 In due season the time of her delivery arrived and she had twin sons. 28 As they were being born, the midwife tied a scarlet thread around the wrist of the child who appeared first, 29 but he drew back his hand and the other baby was actually the first to be born. “Where did you come from!” she exclaimed. And ever after he was called Perez (meaning “Bursting Out”). 30 Then, soon afterwards, the baby with the scarlet thread on his wrist was born, and he was named Zerah.
Footnotes
- Genesis 38:9 although he married her, implied. he spilled the sperm on the bed, literally, “spilled it on the ground.”
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.