Bereshis 38  Orthodox Jewish Bible

38 And it came to pass at that time, that Yehudah went down from his achim, and turned in to an ish Adulami shmo Chirah.

² And Yehudah saw there a bat ish Kena’ani shmo Shua; and he took her, and went in unto her.

³ She conceived, and bore ben; and he called shmo Er.

⁴ And she conceived again, and bore ben; and she called shmo Onan.

⁵ And she yet again conceived, and bore ben; and called shmo Shelah; at Keziv, when she bore him.

⁶ And Yehudah took a wife for Er his bechor, whose shem was Tamar.

⁷ And Er, bechor Yehudah, was rah in the eyes of Hashem; and Hashem slaughtered him.

⁸ And Yehudah said unto Onan, Go in unto eshet achicha, and enter into levirate marriage with her, and raise up zera to achicha.

⁹ And Onan knew that the zera should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto eshet achiv, that he spilled it on the ground, lest he should give zera to achiv.

¹⁰ And the thing which he did was rah in the eyes of Hashem; therefore He slaughtered him also.

¹¹ Then said Yehudah to Tamar his kallah, Remain an almanah at thy bais avi, till Shelah beni is grown; for he said, Lest he die also, as his achim did. And Tamar went and dwelt in her bais avi.

¹² And in process of time the bat Shua, eshet Yehudah, died; and Yehudah was consoled, and went up unto his sheepshearers to Timnah, he and his re’a Chirah the Adulami.

¹³ And it was told Tamar, saying, Hinei, thy kham (father-in-law) goeth up to Timnah to shear his tzon.

¹⁴ And she put off her widow’s garments from her, and covered her with a tze’if (veil), and disguised herself, and sat at the crossroads which is on the derech to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah was grown, and she was not given unto him as isha.

¹⁵ When Yehudah saw her, he thought her to be a zonah; because she had covered her face.

¹⁶ And he turned unto her by the derech, and said, Come now, let me come in unto thee; (for he knew not that she was his kallah [daughter-in-law]). And she said, What wilt thou give me, that thou mayest come in unto me?

¹⁷ And he said, I will send thee a gedi izzim (kid of the goats). And she said, Wilt thou give me an ervon (pledge), till thou send it?

¹⁸ And he said, What ervon shall I give thee? And she said, Thy chotam (signet), and thy [signet neck] cord, and thy staff that is in thine yad. And he gave it her, and came in unto her, and she conceived by him.

¹⁹ And she arose, and went away, and took off her tze’if from her, and put on the garments of her widowhood.

²⁰ And Yehudah sent the gedi izzim by the yad of his friend the Adulami, to get back his ervon from the yad haisha; but he found her not.

²¹ Then he asked the men of that place, saying, Where is the kedesha (cult prostitute) that was on the crossroads by the derech? And they said, There was no kedesha in this place.

²² And he returned to Yehudah, and said, I cannot find her; and also the men of the place said that there was no kedesha in this place.

²³ And Yehudah said, Let her take for herself, lest we become buz (laughingstock); hinei, I sent this gedi, and thou hast not found her.

²⁴ And it came to pass about shlosh chadashim (three months) later, that it was told Yehudah saying, Tamar thy kallah hath played the zonah; and also, hinei, she is with child by zenunim (whoredom). And Yehudah said, Bring her forth, and let her be burned.

²⁵ When she was brought forth, she sent to her kham (father-in-law), saying, By the man, whose these are, am I with child; and she said, Discern, now, whose are these, the chotam (signet), and the [signet neck] cord, and the staff.

²⁶ And Yehudah acknowledged them, and said, She hath been more tzadekah than I; because that I gave her not to Shelah beni. And he knew her again no more.

²⁷ And it came to pass in the time of her travail, that, hinei te’omim (twin boys) were in her beten.

²⁸ And it came to pass, when she travailed in labor, that the one put out his yad; and the midwife took and bound upon his yad a scarlet thread, saying, This came out rishonah (first).

²⁹ And it came to pass, as he drew back his yad, that, hinei, his brother came out; and she said, How hast paratzta (thou broken out)? This paretz (breach, breaking) be upon thee; therefore shmo was called Peretz [Breaking out].

³⁰ And afterward came out his brother, that had the scarlet thread upon his yad; and shmo was called Zerach.