Genesis 38
1 About that time, Judah left his brothers and went down to stay with a man from Adullam named Hirah.
2 There Judah saw the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua. He took her as his wife and slept with her.
3 She became pregnant and gave birth to a son, and he named him Er.
4 She became pregnant again and gave birth to a son, and she named him Onan.
5 She gave birth to another son and named him Shelah. Judah was in Chezib when she gave birth to him.
6 Judah got a wife for his firstborn son Er. Her name was Tamar.
7 But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the LORD’s sight, so the LORD put him to death.
8 Then Judah said to Onan, “Sleep with your brother’s wife, fulfill your duty as her brother-in-law, and provide offspring for your brother.”
9 Onan knew the offspring would not be his. So whenever he slept with his brother’s wife, he spilled his semen on the ground, so he would not provide offspring for his brother.
10 What he did was wicked in the LORD’s sight, so the LORD put him to death too.
11 Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Live as a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah grows up.” For he thought, “He might die too, like his brothers.” So Tamar went and lived in her father’s house.
12 A long time later, Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. After Judah had mourned her, he went up to Timnah with his friend Hirah the Adullamite to see the men shearing his flock.
13 Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his flock.”
14 She took off her widow’s clothes, covered herself with a veil, wrapped it around her, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, on the road to Timnah. She saw that Shelah had grown up, but she had not 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 went over to her beside the road and said, “Let me sleep with you.” He did not know she was his daughter-in-law. She asked, “What will you give me to sleep with you?”
17 He answered, “I’ll send you a young goat from the flock.” She said, “Only if you leave me a pledge until you send it.”
18 He asked, “What pledge should I leave with you?” She answered, “Your seal and its cord, and the staff in your hand.” He gave them to her and slept with her, and she became pregnant by him.
19 She got up and left. She took off her veil and put her widow’s clothes back on.
20 Judah sent the young goat by his Adullamite friend to get the pledge back from the woman, but he could not find her.
21 He asked the men of the place, “Where is the shrine prostitute who was at Enaim beside the road?” They answered, “There has been no shrine prostitute here.”
22 He returned to Judah and said, “I couldn’t find her. The men of the place also said, ‘There has been no shrine prostitute here.’”
23 Judah said, “Let her keep them, or we’ll become a laughingstock. I sent this young goat, but you couldn’t find her.”
24 About three months later, Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has acted like a prostitute, and now she is pregnant because of it.” 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: “I am pregnant by the man who owns these things.” She added, “Please identify whose seal, cords, and staff these are.”
26 Judah recognized them and said, “She is more in the right than I am, because I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not sleep with her again.
27 When the time came for her to give birth, there were twins in her womb.
28 During the birth, one of them put out his hand. The midwife took it and tied a red thread around it, saying, “This one came out first.”
29 But when he drew his hand back, his brother came out. She said, “What a breach you have made for yourself!” And she named him Perez.
30 Afterward his brother came out, with the red thread on his hand, and he was named Zerah.
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