Genesis 38:11–30

¹¹Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Remain a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah grows up.” ^cFor he thought, “He might die too, like his brothers.” So Tamar went to live in her father’s house.

¹²After a long time ^dJudah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had finished mourning, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went up to Timnah ^eto the sheepshearers. ¹³Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep.” ¹⁴So she took off her widow’s clothes, veiled her face, ^fcovered herself, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, ^gwhich is on the way to Timnah. For she saw that, though Shelah had grown up, she had not been given to him as a wife. ¹⁵When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face.

¹⁶He went over to her and said, “Come, let me sleep with you,” for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. ^h

She said, “What will you give me for sleeping with me?”

¹⁷“I will send you a young goat from my flock,” he replied.

But she said, “Only if you leave something with me until you send it.”

¹⁸“What should I give you?” he asked.

She answered, “Your signet ring, your cord, and the staff in your hand.” So he gave them to her and slept with her, and she got pregnant by him. ¹⁹She got up and left, then removed her veil and put her widow’s clothes back on.

²⁰When Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite in order to get back the items he had left with the woman, he could not find her. ²¹He asked the men of the place, “Where is the cult prostitute who was beside the road at Enaim?”

“There has been no cult prostitute here,” they answered.

²²So the Adullamite returned to Judah, saying, “I couldn’t find her, and furthermore, the men of the place said, ‘There has been no cult prostitute here.’ ”

²³Judah replied, “Let her keep the items for herself; otherwise we will become a laughingstock. After all, I did send this young goat, but you couldn’t find her.”

²⁴About three months later Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law, Tamar, has been acting like a prostitute, and now she is pregnant.”

“Bring her out!” Judah said. “Let her be burned to death!” ⁱ

²⁵As she was being brought out, she sent her father-in-law this message: “I am pregnant by the man to whom these items belong.” And she added, “Examine them. Whose signet ring, cord, and staff are these?”

²⁶Judah recognized them and said, “She is more in the right ^jthan I, ^ksince I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not know her intimately again.

²⁷When the time came for her to give birth, there were twins in her womb. ²⁸As she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand, and the midwife took it and tied a scarlet thread around it, announcing, “This one came out first.” ²⁹But then he pulled his hand back, and his brother came out. Then she said, “You have broken out first!” So he was named Perez. ^lm30Then his brother, who had the scarlet thread tied to his hand, came out, and was named Zerah. ⁿ