Genesis 38:14–23

¹⁴So she ¹removed her widow’s garments and ^acovered herself with a ²veil, and wrapped herself, and sat in the gateway of ³Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah had grown up, and ^bshe had not been given to him as a wife.

¹⁵When Judah saw her, he thought she was a harlot, for she had covered her face.

¹⁶So he turned aside to her by the road, and said, “¹Here now, let me come in to you”; for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. And she said, “What will you give me, that you may come in to me?”

¹⁷He said, therefore, “I will send you a ¹young goat from the flock.” She said, moreover, “Will you give a pledge until you send it?”

¹⁸He said, “What pledge shall I give you?” And she said, “^aYour seal and your cord, and your staff that is in your hand.” So he gave them to her and went in to her, and she conceived by him.

¹⁹Then she arose and departed, and ¹removed her ²veil and put on her widow’s garments.

²⁰When Judah sent the ¹young goat by his friend the Adullamite, to receive the pledge from the woman’s hand, he did not find her.

²¹He asked the men of her place, saying, “Where is the temple prostitute who was by the road at Enaim?” But they said, “There has been no temple prostitute here.”

²²So he returned to Judah, and said, “I did not find her; and furthermore, the men of the place said, ‘There has been no temple prostitute here.’ ”

²³Then Judah said, “Let her ¹keep them, otherwise we will become a laughingstock. ²After all, I sent this young goat, but you did not find her.”