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The Blue Letter Bible

Genesis 38 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

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Judah and Tamar

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 38:1

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:1 - It happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers and turned aside to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 38:2

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:2 - There Judah saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua. He took her and went in to her,

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 38:3

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:3 - and she conceived and bore a son, and he called his name Er.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 38:4

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:4 - She conceived again and bore a son, and she called his name Onan.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 38:5

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:5 - Yet again she bore a son, and she called his name Shelah. Judah[fn] was in Chezib when she bore him.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 38:6

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:6 - And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 38:7

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:7 - But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD put him to death.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 38:8

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:8 - Then Judah said to Onan, “Go in to your brother’s wife and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 38:9

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:9 - But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his. So whenever he went in to his brother’s wife he would waste the semen on the ground, so as not to give offspring to his brother.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 38:10

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:10 - And what he did was wicked in the sight of the LORD, and he put him to death also.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 38:11

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:11 - Then Judah said to Tamar his daughter-in-law, “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 in her father’s house.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 38:12

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:12 - In the course of time the wife of Judah, Shua’s daughter, died. When Judah was comforted, he went up to Timnah to his sheepshearers, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 38:13

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:13 - And when Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep,”

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 38:14

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:14 - she took off her widow’s garments and covered herself with a veil, wrapping herself up, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that Shelah was grown up, and she had not been given to him in marriage.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 38:15

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:15 - When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 38:16

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:16 - He 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?”

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 38:17

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:17 - He answered, “I will send you a young goat from the flock.” And she said, “If you give me a pledge, until you send it—”

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 38:18

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:18 - He said, “What pledge shall I give you?” She replied, “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.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 38:19

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:19 - Then she arose and went away, and taking off her veil she put on the garments of her widowhood.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 38:20

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:20 - When Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite to take back the pledge from the woman’s hand, he did not find her.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 38:21

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:21 - And he asked the men of the place, “Where is the cult prostitute[fn] who was at Enaim at the roadside?” And they said, “No cult prostitute has been here.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 38:22

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:22 - So he returned to Judah and said, “I have not found her. Also, the men of the place said, ‘No cult prostitute has been here.’”

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 38:23

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:23 - And Judah replied, “Let her keep the things as her own, or we shall be laughed at. You see, I sent this young goat, and you did not find her.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 38:24

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:24 - About three months later Judah was told, “Tamar your daughter-in-law has been immoral.[fn] Moreover, she is pregnant by immorality.”[fn] And Judah said, “Bring her out, and let her be burned.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 38:25

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:25 - As she was being brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law, “By the man to whom these belong, I am pregnant.” And she said, “Please identify whose these are, the signet and the cord and the staff.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 38:26

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:26 - Then Judah identified them and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not know her again.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 38:27

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:27 - When the time of her labor came, there were twins in her womb.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 38:28

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:28 - And when she was in labor, one put out a hand, and the midwife took and tied a scarlet thread on his hand, saying, “This one came out first.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 38:29

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:29 - But as he drew back his hand, behold, his brother came out. And she said, “What a breach you have made for yourself!” Therefore his name was called Perez.[fn]

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 38:30

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 38:30 - Afterward his brother came out with the scarlet thread on his hand, and his name was called Zerah.
See the ESV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).
ESV Footnotes
Hebrew He
Hebrew sacred woman; a woman who served a pagan deity by prostitution; also verse 22
Or has committed prostitution
Or by prostitution
Perez means a breach
ESV

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016 by Crossway Books and Bibles, a Publishing Ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

See detailed copyright information.

For more information on this translation, see the ESV Preface.

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Genesis Chapter 38 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New Living Translation New International Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Westminster Leningrad Codex Septuagint Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Brenton's English Septuagint Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras