¹³ When Tamar^(A) was told, “Your father-in-law is on his way to Timnah to shear his sheep,”^{(B) 14} she took off her widow’s clothes,^(C) covered herself with a veil^(D) to disguise herself, and then sat down^(E) at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah.^(F) For she saw that, though Shelah^(G) had now grown up, she had not been given to him as his wife.

¹⁵ When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute,^(H) for she had covered her face. ¹⁶ Not realizing^(I) that she was his daughter-in-law,^(J) he went over to her by the roadside and said, “Come now, let me sleep with you.”^(K)

“And what will you give me to sleep with you?”^(L) she asked.

¹⁷ “I’ll send you a young goat^(M) from my flock,” he said.

“Will you give me something as a pledge^(N) until you send it?” she asked.

¹⁸ He said, “What pledge should I give you?”

“Your seal^(O) and its cord, and the staff^(P) in your hand,” she answered. So he gave them to her and slept with her, and she became pregnant by him.^{(Q) 19} After she left, she took off her veil and put on her widow’s clothes^(R) again.

²⁰ Meanwhile Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite^(S) in order to get his pledge^(T) back from the woman, but he did not find her. ²¹ He asked the men who lived there, “Where is the shrine prostitute^(U) who was beside the road at Enaim?”

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