38
The story of Judah and Tamar
1 A little bit later, Jacob's son Judah left the family camp and went to stay with a man named Hirah in a place called Adullam. 2 While he was living there, he met a Canaanite woman who was the daughter of a man named Shua. They got married and slept together as husband and wife. 3 Later on Judah's wife had a baby boy and they named him Er. 4 Judah and his wife slept together again and she had another baby boy, and she named him Onan. 5 Judah's wife then had another baby boy. He was born at a place called Kezib and his name was Shelah.
6 Er was Judah's oldest son. Years later, when he was grown up, Judah got a wife for him. Her name was Tamar. 7 But Er, Judah's firstborn son, was always going against God and doing bad things and so God killed him.
8 Judah said to Onan, his second son, “Your brother Er has died and so by our culture, you have to marry his wife Tamar.+ Go and sleep with her so that she can have a baby to keep your older brother's family line going.”
9 But Onan knew that if he slept with Tamar and she had a baby, that baby would belong to the brother that died and it would not belong to him. So every time he and Tamar slept together, he would stop half way. He did this so that his brother would not have children.
10 God was really angry with Onan for not doing the right thing for the brother that had died and so God killed Onan too.
11 Judah said to his daughter in law Tamar, “I want you to go back and live in your father's house but do not marry anyone else+. Wait until my third son Shelah grows up and then you can marry him.” So Tamar went back to her father's place. You see Judah was frightened that his son Shelah would die just like his 2 older brothers.
12 Years later, Judah's wife, the daughter of Shua died. And Judah cried for her. When the sorry time was finished, he left his camp and went to a place called Timnah. That was where Judah's men were cutting the wool off his sheep. His friend Hirah from Adullam, went with him.
13 Judah's daughter in law, Tamar, heard that Judah was going to Timnah to cut the wool off his sheep and she knew what she had to do. 14 In that culture, widows wore special sorry clothes. And so to make her plan work, Tamar stopped wearing her widow's clothes. She put on other clothes and covered her face with a cloth, so that no one would know who she was. Then she went and sat down next to the gates of a town called Enay-im which was on the way to Timnah.
Tamar remembered Judah's promise to her. She had worked out that Judah's youngest son, Shelah, would be the right age to marry her now. You see, Tamar's 2 husbands had died, and now it was time for Shelah to be her husband.
15-16 When Judah saw the woman sitting next to the town gates he did not know that the woman was his daughter in law. He thought she was a woman that went to bed with men for money.
Judah said to her, “Come and sleep with me.”
Tamar answered, “And what will you give me if I sleep with you?”
17 Judah said, “I will send you a young goat.”
But Tamar said, “Can you give me something of yours to keep until you send the goat. When I get the goat I will give that special thing back to you.”
18-19 Judah said, “What sort of thing should I give you?”
Tamar said, “Give me your necklace with your name on it, and your walking stick.”
Judah gave her his necklace and walking stick and they went to bed together.
When Tamar went home, she took the cloth off her face and put on her widow's clothes again.
Some time later, Tamar knew she was going to have a baby.
20 Judah kept his promise and sent his friend Hirah back to the woman Judah had slept with. Hirah took a goat so that he could swap it for Judah's necklace and walking stick. But when he got to the right place, he could not find the woman anywhere. 21 Hirah said to the men that lived there, “I am looking for the ceremony woman that sleeps with men for money. She was sitting near the gate to Enay-im. Do you know where she is?”
The men answered, “You have made a mistake. There has never been a ceremony woman like that here.”
22 Hirah went back to Judah and said, “I didn't find the woman, and the men that lived there said, ‘There has never been a ceremony woman here.’ ”
23 Judah said, “I kept my promise. I sent the young goat back to her, and you tried to find her, so do not worry about it. Let her keep those things. If people find out what happened they will laugh at us.”
24 Three months later someone said to Judah, “Tamar your daughter in law has been sleeping with men for money, and she is going to have a baby.”
So Judah said, “Bring her here so that we can burn her alive.”
25 The people started to take Tamar to Judah, but she sent a message to him. She said, “The man who owns these things is the father of my baby. Tell me who owns this necklace that has a name written on it and who owns this walking stick.”
26 Straight away, Judah saw that the necklace and walking stick were his and so he said, “I didn't let Tamar marry my son Shelah. That is why she did this. She is right and I am wrong.”
Judah never went to bed with Tamar again.
27 When the time came for the baby to be born, Tamar found that she was going to have twins. 28 One of the babies put out his hand and the nurse tied a red string around it and said, “This one was born first.” 29 But the baby pulled its hand back and the other baby was born first. The nurse said, “OK, you were in a big hurry to be born first.” So they named him Perez. 30 Then the baby with the red string on his hand was born and they named him Zerah.
+ 38:8 Matthew 22:24,28; Mark 12:19-23; Luke 20:28-33 + 38:11 Ruth 1:11-13