Judah and Tamar
1At that time, Judah went away from his brothers. He went to the town of Adullam and he put up his tent near a man named Hirah. 2There Judah saw a girl from Canaan. Her father's name was Shua. Judah married her and had sex with her. 3She became pregnant and she had a son. Judah named him Er. 4Later she became pregnant again and she had another son and she named him Onan. 5She had another son and she named him Shelah. He was born in the town of Kezib.
6Judah chose a wife for his oldest son Er. Her name was Tamar. 7Judah's oldest son Er did many bad things and the Lord caused him to die.
8Then Judah said to his 2nd son Onan: ‘You must go and sleep with your brother's widow so that she can have a child because you are her brother-in-law. Do this so that your brother can have descendants.’
9But Onan realised that the child that she would have would not be his own descendant. It would be Er's descendant. Then Onan had sex with his brother's widow, but each time he let his semen fall on the ground. He did this because he did not want his brother to have a descendant. 10What Onan did was wrong. The Lord was angry with Onan and He also caused Onan to die.
11Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law: ‘Go back to your father's house and stay a widow until my 3rd son, Shelah, is old enough to marry you.’ Judah was afraid that Shelah would also die, like his brothers. Tamar stayed in her father's house.
12After a long time Judah's wife died. She was the daughter of Shua. Judah cried and mourned for her. When the time was over for him to mourn, he went to the town of Timnah to shear his sheep and goats. His friend Hirah from Adullam went with him. 13The men told Tamar: ‘Your father-in-law went to Timnah to shear his sheep and goats.’
14Tamar saw that Shelah was grown up, but Judah had not given Tamar to Shelah so that they could marry. Tamar took off the clothes that widows wear and she covered her face with a veil. She put on other clothes so that the people would not know who she was. They thought she was a prostitute and she sat at the gate of the town of Enaim on the way to Timnah. 15When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute because she had covered her face with a veil.
16Judah stopped and told her: ‘Come, I want to have sex with you.’ He did not know that it was his daughter-in-law. Tamar asked him: ‘What will you pay me?’
17He answered: ‘I will give you a goat lamb. I will send it to you later.’
She said: ‘You must give me something that I can keep until you send me the goat lamb.’ 18He asked: ‘What must I give you that you can keep?’ She said: ‘Give me your ring with the seal and its cord, and the staff in your hand.’ He gave it to her. Judah had sex with her and she became pregnant.
19She went home and took off her veil and put on her widow clothes. 20Later Judah sent his friend Hirah from Adullam to take the goat lamb to the woman, and to get back his ring with the seal and cord and the staff from her, but Hirah could not find the woman. 21Hirah asked the people at the place where she had been sitting: ‘Where is the temple-prostitute who sat next to the road from Enaim?’ But they said: ‘There is no temple-prostitute here.’
22Hirah went back to Judah and told him: ‘I have not found her and the people of that place say that there is no temple-prostitute there.’ 23Then Judah said: ‘She can keep it. I do not want people to mock us. I sent the goat lamb but you could not find her. Forget it.’
Tamar has 2 sons
24About 3 months later, the people told Judah: ‘Your daughter-in-law, Tamar, has had sex with a man. She is like a bad woman and she is pregnant now.’ Judah said: ‘Bring her out and let us burn her.’ 25The men brought her out, but she sent a message to her father-in-law. She said: ‘I am pregnant and these things belong to the man who had sex with me. Please look carefully whose ring with the seal and cord and staff this is.’
26Judah saw that it belonged to him and then he said: ‘She is innocent. It is I who have done wrong because I did not give my son, Shelah, to marry her.’ Judah never had sex with her again.
27The time came for Tamar to give birth and she had twins. 28When the babies were born, one baby put out his hand and the midwife took a piece of red string and tied it around his hand. She said: ‘This one came out first.’
29But he took back his hand and his brother came out first. She said: ‘You have broken out.’ And she named him Perez. 30Then his brother came out with the red string on his hand and she named him Zerah.
