创38:1At that time, Judah left his brothers and went down to stay with a man of Adullam named Hirah.

创38:2There Judah met the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua. He married her and lay with her;

创38:3she became pregnant and gave birth to a son, who was named Er.

创38:4She conceived again and gave birth to a son and named him Onan.

创38:5She gave birth to still another son and named him Shelah. It was at Kezib that she gave birth to him.

创38:6Judah got a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.

创38:7But Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the Lord 's sight; so the Lord put him to death.

创38:8Then Judah said to Onan, "Lie with your brother's wife and fulfill your duty to her as a brother-in-law to produce offspring for your brother."

创38:9But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his; so whenever he lay with his brother's wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from producing offspring for his brother.

创38:10What he did was wicked in the Lord 's sight; so he put him to death also.

创38:11Judah then 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 may die too, just like his brothers." So Tamar went to live in her father's house.

创38:12After a long time Judah's wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had recovered from his grief, he went up to Timnah, to the men who were shearing his sheep, and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went with him.

创38:13When Tamar was told, "Your father-in-law is on his way to Timnah to shear his sheep,"

创38:14she took off her widow's clothes, covered herself with a veil to disguise herself, and then sat down at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that, though Shelah had now grown up, she had not been given to him as his wife.

创38:15When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face.

创38:16Not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, he went over to her by the roadside and said, "Come now, let me sleep with you." "And what will you give me to sleep with you?" she asked.

创38:17I'll send you a young goat from my flock, he said. "Will you give me something as a pledge until you send it?" she asked.

创38:18He said, "What pledge should I give you?" "Your seal and its cord, and the staff in your hand," she answered. So he gave them to her and slept with her, and she became pregnant by him.

创38:19After she left, she took off her veil and put on her widow's clothes again.

创38:20Meanwhile Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite in order to get his pledge back from the woman, but he did not find her.