Genesis 38:10-20

English Standard Version

¹⁰And what he did was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and he put him to death also. ¹¹Then Judah said to Tamar his daughter-in-law, ^(A)“Remain a widow in your father's house, till Shelah my son grows up”—for he feared that he would die, like his brothers. So Tamar went and remained ^(B)in her father's house.

¹²In the course of time the wife of Judah, Shua's daughter, died. When Judah ^(C)was comforted, he went up to ^(D)Timnah to his sheepshearers, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. ¹³And when Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep,” ¹⁴she took off her widow's garments ^(E)and covered herself with a veil, wrapping herself up, and sat at the entrance to ^(F)Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that Shelah was grown up, ^(G)and she had not been given to him in marriage. ¹⁵When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. ¹⁶He turned to her at the roadside and said, “Come, let me come in to you,” for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. She said, “What will you give me, that you may come in to me?” ¹⁷He answered, “I will send you a young goat from the flock.” And she said, “If you give me a pledge, until you send it—” ¹⁸He said, “What pledge shall I give you?” She replied, ^(H)“Your signet and your cord and your staff that is in your hand.” So he gave them to her and went in to her, and she conceived by him. ¹⁹Then she arose and went away, and taking off ^(I)her veil she put on the garments of her widowhood.