GenesisChapter 38

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¹At about that time, Judah left his brothers. He went to stay near a man named Hirah, from the town of Adullam. ²There Judah saw the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua. He married her and slept with her. ³She became pregnant and had a son. Judah named him Er. ⁴She became pregnant again and had a son. She named him Onan. ⁵Then she had another son and named him Shelah. She gave birth to him at Chezib. ⁶Judah got a wife for Er, his oldest son. Her name was Tamar. ⁷But Er, Judah's oldest son, was evil in the LORD's eyes. So the LORD put him to death. ⁸Then Judah said to Onan, "Sleep with your brother's wife. Do your duty as her brother-in-law. Give your brother children to carry on his name." ⁹But Onan knew the children would not count as his. So whenever he slept with his brother's wife, he spilled his seed on the ground. He did this so he would not give his brother children. ¹⁰What he did was evil in the LORD's eyes. So the LORD put Onan to death too. ¹¹Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, "Live as a widow in your father's house until my son Shelah grows up." Judah said this because he thought, "Shelah might die too, like his brothers." So Tamar went to live in her father's house. ¹²After a long time, Judah's wife died. She was Shua's daughter. When Judah's time of mourning was over, he went up to Timnah. His friend Hirah the Adullamite went with him. They went to see the men who were cutting the wool from his sheep. ¹³Someone told Tamar, "Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to cut the wool from his sheep." ¹⁴So she took off her widow's clothes. She covered her face with a veil so no one would know her. Then she sat by the gate of Enaim, on the road to Timnah. She did this because she saw that Shelah had grown up. But she had not been given to him as his wife. ¹⁵When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, because she had covered her face. ¹⁶He did not know she was his daughter-in-law. He went over to her and said, "Come, let me sleep with you." She asked, "What will you give me to sleep with me?" ¹⁷"I'll send you a young goat from my flock," Judah answered. But she said, "Only if you leave me something to hold until you send it." ¹⁸"What should I give you to hold?" he asked. She answered, "Your seal and its cord, and the walking stick in your hand." So he gave them to her and slept with her. And she became pregnant by him. ¹⁹Then Tamar got up and left. She took off her veil and put on her widow's clothes again. ²⁰Later Judah sent his friend Hirah the Adullamite with the young goat. He sent him to get back the things he had left with the woman. But Hirah could not find her. ²¹He asked the men who lived there, "Where is the shrine prostitute who was by the road at Enaim?" "There has been no shrine prostitute here," they said. ²²So Hirah went back to Judah. He said, "I couldn't find her. And the men who live there said, 'There has been no shrine prostitute here.'" ²³"Let her keep the things," Judah said. "Or else people will laugh at us. After all, I did send her this young goat. But you couldn't find her." ²⁴About three months later, someone told Judah, "Your daughter-in-law Tamar has acted like a prostitute. And now she is pregnant." Judah said, "Bring her out! Let her be burned to death!" ²⁵As they were bringing her out, Tamar sent a message to her father-in-law. "I am pregnant by the man who owns these things," she said. "Please look at them. Whose seal and cord and walking stick are these?" ²⁶Judah knew they were his. He said, "She is more in the right than I am, because I did not give her to my son Shelah." And Judah did not sleep with her again. ²⁷When it was time for Tamar to give birth, there were twins inside her. ²⁸While she was giving birth, one baby put out his hand. So the woman helping her took a bright red thread. She tied it around his wrist. "This one came out first," she said. ²⁹But then he pulled his hand back, and his brother came out. She said, "So you have broken out first!" So he was named Perez.a ³⁰Then his brother came out with the red thread around his wrist. He was named Zerah.