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The Blue Letter Bible

Genesis 38 :: Amplified Bible (AMP)

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Judah and Tamar

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:1 -

Now at that time, Judah left his brothers and went down to [stay with] a certain Adullamite named Hirah.

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:2 - There Judah saw a daughter of Shua, a Canaanite, and he took her [as his wife] and lived with her.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:3 - So she conceived and gave birth to a son and Judah named him Er.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:4 - Then she conceived again and gave birth to a son and named him Onan.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:5 - Again she conceived and gave birth to still another son and named him Shelah. It was at Chezib that she gave birth to him.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:6 -

Now Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn; her name was Tamar.

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:7 - But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was evil in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD killed him [in judgment].
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:8 - Then Judah told Onan, “Go in to your brother’s widow, and perform your duty as a brother-in-law [under the levirate marriage custom]; [be her husband and] raise children for [the name of] your brother.”
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:9 - Onan knew that the child (heir) would not be his [but his dead brother’s]; so whenever he lay with his brother’s widow, he spilled his seed on the ground [to prevent conception], so that he would not give a child to his brother.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:10 - But what he did was displeasing in the sight of the LORD; therefore He killed him also [in judgment].
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:11 - Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, “Remain a widow at your father’s house until Shelah my [youngest] son is grown”; [but he was deceiving her] for he thought that [if Shelah should marry her] he too might die like his brothers did. So Tamar went and lived in her father’s house.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:12 -

[fn]But quite a while later, Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died; and when the time of mourning was ended, he went up to his sheepshearers at Timnah with his friend Hirah the Adullamite.

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:13 - Tamar was told, “Listen, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep.”
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:14 - So she removed her widow’s clothes and covered herself with a veil, and wrapped herself up [in disguise], and sat in the gateway of Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah had grown up, and she had not been given to him as a wife [as Judah had promised].
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:15 - When Judah saw her, he thought she was a [temple] prostitute, for she had covered her face [as such women did].
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:16 - He turned to her by the road, and said, “Please come, let me lie with you”; for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. And she said, “What will you give me, that you may lie with me?”
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:17 - He answered, “I will send you a young goat from the flock.” And she said, “Will you give me a pledge [as a deposit] until you send it?”
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:18 - He said, “What pledge shall I give you?” She said, “Your seal and your cord, and the staff that is in your hand.” So he gave them to her and was intimate with her, and she conceived by him.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:19 - Then she got up and left, and removed her veil and put on her widow’s clothing.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:20 -

When Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite, to get his pledge [back] from the woman, he was unable to find her.

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:21 - He asked the men of that place, “Where is the temple prostitute who was by the roadside at Enaim?” They said, “There was no prostitute here.”
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:22 - So he returned to Judah, and said, “I cannot find her; also the local men said, ‘There was no prostitute around here.’”
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:23 - Then Judah said, “Let her keep the things (pledge articles) for herself, otherwise we will be a laughingstock [searching everywhere for her]. After all, I sent this young goat, but you did not find her.”
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:24 -

About three months later Judah was told, “Tamar your daughter-in-law has played the [role of a] prostitute, and she is with child because of her immorality.” So Judah said, “Bring her out and let her be burned [to death as punishment]!”

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:25 - While she was being brought out, she [took the things Judah had given her and] sent [them along with a message] to her father-in-law, saying, “I am with child by the man to whom these articles belong.” And she added, “Please examine [them carefully] and see [clearly] to whom these things belong, the seal and the cord and staff.”
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:26 - Judah recognized the articles, and said, “She has been more righteous [in this matter] than I, because I did not give her to my son Shelah [as I had promised].” And Judah did not have [intimate] relations with her again.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:27 -

Now when the time came for her to give birth, there were twins in her womb.

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:28 - And when she was in labor, one [baby] put out his hand, and the midwife took his hand and tied a scarlet thread on it, saying, “This one was born first.”
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:29 - But he pulled back his hand, and his brother was born first. And she said, “What a breach you have made for yourself [to be the firstborn]!” So he was named Perez (breach, break forth).
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:30 - Afterward his brother who had the scarlet [thread] on his hand was born and was named Zerah (brightness).
AMP Footnotes
Lit The days multiplied and Judah’s wife….
AMP

Amplified Bible Copyright © 2015 by

The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631 All rights reserved.

For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org.

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Genesis Chapter 38 — Additional Translations: