Genesis 38:15-23

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

¹⁵ When Judah saw her, he thought her to be a prostitute, for she had covered her face. ¹⁶ He went over 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?” ¹⁷ He answered, “I will send you a kid from the flock.” And she said, “Only if you give me a pledge until you send it.”^{(A) 18} He said, “What pledge shall I give you?” She replied, “Your signet and your cord and the staff that is in your hand.” So he gave them to her and went in to her, and she conceived by him.^{(B) 19} Then she got up and went away, and taking off her veil she put on the garments of her widowhood.^(C)

²⁰ When Judah sent the kid by his friend the Adullamite to recover the pledge from the woman, he could not find her. ²¹ He asked the townspeople, “Where is the prostitute who was at Enaim by the wayside?” But they said, “No prostitute has been here.” ²² So he returned to Judah and said, “I have not found her; moreover, the townspeople said, ‘No prostitute has been here.’ ” ²³ Judah replied, “Let her keep the things as her own, otherwise we will be laughed at; you see, I sent this kid, and you could not find her.”