Genesis
Chapter 38
1 At that time, Judah left his brothers and stayed with a man from Adullam named Hirah.
2 Judah saw a Canaanite man’s daughter named Shuah; he married her and slept with her.
3 She became pregnant, gave birth to a son, and he named him Er.
4 She became pregnant again and had a son; she named him Onan.
5 She became pregnant again and had a son. She named him Shelah. She was in Chezib when she gave birth to him.
6 Judah found a wife for his oldest son Er, whose name was Tamar.
7 Er, Judah’s eldest son, was evil in God’s eyes, and God killed him.
8 Judah said to Onan, “Sleep with your brother’s wife, marry her, and have children for your brother.”
9 Onan knew the child would not be his; so when he slept with his brother’s wife, he wasted his seed on the ground, to avoid giving a child to his brother.
10 What he did upset God, so God also took his life.
11 Judah told Tamar, his daughter-in-law, “Stay a widow at your father’s house until my son Shelah grows up.” He thought Shelah might die like his brothers. So Tamar went to live in her father’s house.
12 After some time, Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shuah, died. Judah felt better and went to see his sheep shearers in Timnath with his friend Hirah, from Adullam.
13 Someone told Tamar, “Look, your father-in-law is going to Timnath to cut his sheep’s wool.”
14 She took off her widow’s clothes, covered herself with a veil, wrapped up, and sat down in an open area on the road to Timnath; because she realized that Shelah had grown up and she hadn’t been given to him as his wife.
15 When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute because she had covered her face.
16 On the road, he turned to her and said, “Please let me sleep with you.” (He didn’t know she was his daughter-in-law.) And she asked, “What will you give me to sleep with me?”
17 He said, “I will send you a young goat from the herd.” She asked, “Will you give me something to keep until you send it?”
18 He asked, “What should I give you as a promise?” She replied, “Your seal ring, your arm bands, and your walking stick that you have with you.” So he gave them to her, slept with her, and she became pregnant by him.
19 She got up, left, took off her veil, and dressed in her widow’s clothes.
20 Judah sent the young goat with his friend from Adullam to get his collateral back from the woman, but he could not find her.
21 He asked the people there, “Where is the prostitute who was out in the open by the road?” But they said, “There is no prostitute here.”
22 He went back to Judah and said, “I can’t find her; and the local men said there was no prostitute here.”
23 Judah said, “Let her keep it so we won’t be embarrassed. Look, I sent the young goat, but you didn’t find her.”
24 Three months later, someone told Judah, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has acted like a prostitute, and now she’s pregnant because of it.” Judah said, “Bring her out and let her be burned.”
25 When she was brought out, she sent a message to her father-in-law, saying, “I am pregnant by the man who owns these things.” And she asked, “Please, look and see who these belong to—the signet, bracelets, and staff.”
26 Judah recognized them and said, “She has been more right than I, because I did not give her to my son Shelah.” He did not sleep with her again.
27 During her labor, she discovered she was having twins.
28 When she was giving birth, one baby reached out his hand, and the midwife tied a red string around it, saying, “This one came out first.”
29 As he pulled back his hand, his brother came out. She asked, “How did you come out first?” So he was named Pharez.
30 Later, his brother came out, the one with the red string on his hand; they named him Zarah.