20 Meanwhile Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamiteh in order to get his pledgei back from the woman, but he did not find her. 21 He asked the men who lived there, “Where is the shrine prostitutej who was beside the road at Enaim?”

“There hasn’t been any shrine prostitute here,” they said.

22 So he went back to Judah and said, “I didn’t find her. Besides, the men who lived there said, ‘There hasn’t been any shrine prostitute here.’ ”

23 Then Judah said, “Let her keep what she has,k or we will become a laughingstock.l After all, I did send her this young goat, but you didn’t find her.”

24 About three months later Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar is guilty of prostitution, and as a result she is now pregnant.”

Judah said, “Bring her out and have her burned to death!”m

25 As she was being brought out, she sent a message to her father-in-law. “I am pregnant by the man who owns these,” she said. And she added, “See if you recognize whose seal and cord and staff these are.”n

26 Judah recognized them and said, “She is more righteous than I,o since I wouldn’t give her to my son Shelah.p” And he did not sleep with her again.