Genesis 38:12-23

Holman Christian Standard Bible

¹² After a long time^[a] Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had finished mourning, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went up to Timnah^(A) to the sheepshearers. ¹³ Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep.” ¹⁴ So she took off her widow’s clothes, veiled her face,^(B) covered herself, and sat at the entrance to Enaim,^[b] which 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. ¹⁵ When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face.

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

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. ¹⁹ She got up and left, then removed her veil and put her widow’s clothes back on.

²⁰ When 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. ²¹ He 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.

²² So 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.’”

²³ Judah 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.”