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Genesis 38
Tamar and Judah
The Story of a Determined
Woman
 Judah's
Family
1
It happened at that
time that Judah went down from his brothers and settled near a certain
Adullamite whose name was Hirah.
2 There Judah saw
the daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua; he married her
and went in to her.
3 She conceived and bore a son;
and he named him Er.
4 Again she conceived and bore
a son whom she named Onan.
5 Yet again she bore a
son, and she named him Shelah. She was in Chezib when she bore him.
6 Judah
took a wife for Er his firstborn; her name was Tamar.
7 But
Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord,
and the Lord put him to death.
Tamar's
husband Onan masturbates
 8
Then Judah said to Onan, ‘Go in to your brother’s wife and perform
the duty of a brother-in-law to her; raise up offspring for your
brother.’
9 But since Onan knew that the
offspring would not be his, he spilled his semen on the ground whenever
he went in to his brother’s wife, so that he would not give offspring
to his brother.
10 What he did was displeasing in
the sight of the Lord, and he put him to death
also.
11 Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law
Tamar, ‘Remain a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah
grows up’—for he feared that he too would die, like his brothers. So
Tamar went to live in her father’s house.
Tamar
Takes Action
 12
In
course of time the wife of Judah, Shua’s daughter, died; when
Judah’s time of mourning was over, he went up to Timnah to his
sheep-shearers, he and his friend Hirah the
Adullamite.
13 When
Tamar was told, ‘Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his
sheep’,
14 she put off her widow’s garments,
put on a veil, wrapped herself up, and sat down at the entrance to
Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. She saw that Shelah was grown up,
yet she had not been given to him in marriage.
15 When
Judah saw her, he thought her to be a prostitute, for she had covered
her face.
16 He went over to her at the roadside,
and said, ‘Come, let me come in to you’, for he did not know that
she was his daughter-in-law.
The
Pledge
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Ancient stone seal |
She
said, ‘What will you give me, that you may come in to me?’
17 He
answered, ‘I will send you a kid from the flock.’ And she said,
‘Only if you give me a pledge, until you send it.’
18 He
said, ‘What pledge shall I give you?’ She replied, ‘Your seal
and your cord, and the staff that is in your hand.’ So he gave them to
her, and went in to her, and she conceived by him.
19 Then
she got up and went away, and taking off her veil she put on the
garments of her widowhood.
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Carved walking staff; the staff belonging to the chief man of the tribe was a symbol of authority |
Judah
is Puzzled
20
When
Judah sent the kid by his friend the Adullamite, to recover the pledge
from the woman, he could not find her.
21 He asked
the townspeople, ‘Where is the temple prostitute who was at Enaim by
the wayside?’ But they said, ‘No prostitute has been here.’
22 So he returned to Judah, and said, ‘I have not
found her; moreover, the townspeople said, “No prostitute has been
here.” ’
23 Judah
replied, ‘Let her keep the things as her own, otherwise we will be
laughed at; you see, I sent this kid, and you could not find her.’
Tamar
is Pregnant, and Condemned
24
About
three months later Judah was told, ‘Your daughter-in-law Tamar has
played the whore; moreover she is pregnant as a result of whoredom.’
And Judah said, ‘Bring her out, and let her be burned.’
25 As
she was being brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law, ‘It was
the owner of these who made me pregnant.’ And she said, ‘Take note,
please, whose these are, the seal and the cord and the staff.’
26 Then
Judah acknowledged them and said, ‘She is more in the right than I,
since I did not give her to my son Shelah.’ And he did not lie with
her again.
 Tamar
has Twin Sons
27
When
the time of her delivery came, there were twins in her womb.
28 While
she was in labour, one put out a hand; and the midwife took and bound on
his hand a crimson thread, saying, ‘This one came out first.’
29 But
just then he drew back his hand, and out came his brother; and she said,
‘What a breach you have made for yourself!’ Therefore he was named
Perez.
30 Afterwards his brother came out with the
crimson thread on his hand; and he was named Zerah.
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