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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0; maximum-scale=1.0; user-scalable=0;"/><title>Genesis 38 ISV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/genesis/38.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/genesis/38-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">ISV</a> > Genesis 38</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../genesis/37.htm" title="Genesis 37">◄</a> Genesis 38 <a href="../genesis/39.htm" title="Genesis 39">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">International Standard Version</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/isv/esv/genesis/38.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><p class="heading">Judah’s Life among the Adullamites</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/38-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>Right about then, Judah left his brothers and went to live with an Adullamite man named Hirah. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/38-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>There Judah met<span class="fn"><a href="#ftn" title="38:2 Lit. saw">a</a></span> the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua. He married<span class="fn"><a href="#ftn" title="38:2 Lit. took">b</a></span> her, had sexual relations with her, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/38-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>and she conceived, bore a son, and named him Er. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/38-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>Later, she conceived again, bore another son, and named him Onan. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/38-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>Then she bore yet another son and named him Shelah. Judah was living in Kezib when she bore him.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/38-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>Judah found a wife for his oldest son Er. Her name was Tamar. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/38-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>But the LORD considered Er, Judah’s oldest son, to be wicked—so he put him to death. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/38-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>So Judah instructed Onan, “You are to have sexual relations with your dead brother’s wife, performing the duty of a brother-in-law with her, and have offspring for your brother.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/38-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>But Onan knew that the offspring wouldn’t be his own heir, so whenever he had sexual relations with his brother’s wife, he would spill his semen on the ground to avoid fathering offspring for his brother. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/38-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>The LORD considered what Onan was doing to be evil, so he put him to death, too.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/38-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>After this, Judah told his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Go live as a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah grows up.” But he was really thinking, “…otherwise, Shelah<span class="fn"><a href="#ftn" title="38:11 Lit. he">c</a></span> might die like his brothers.” So Tamar left and lived in her father’s house. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/38-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>Some years later, Shua’s daughter (that is, Judah’s wife) died. As Judah was grieving, he visited the shearers of his flock in Timnah, accompanied by his Adullamite friend Hirah.</p> <p class="heading">Tamar Avenges Judah’s Treachery</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/38-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>“Look!” somebody reported to Tamar, “Your father-in-law is going to Timnah to shear his sheep.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/38-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>So she took off her mourning apparel, covered herself with a shawl, and concealed her outward appearance. Then she went out and sat at the entrance of Enaim, which is on the way to Timnah, because she knew that even though Shelah had grown up, she wasn’t being given to him as his wife.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/38-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, since she had concealed her face. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/38-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>So on the way, he turned aside, approached her, and said, “Come on! Let’s have some sex!” But he didn’t realize that he was talking to his own daughter-in-law.</p> <p class="reg">“What will you give me,” she asked, “in order to have sex with me?”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/38-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>“I’ll send you a young goat from the flock,” he responded.</p> <p class="reg">But she pressed him, asking, “What security will you put up until you’ve sent it?”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/38-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>Then he asked, “What pledge do you want me to give you?”</p> <p class="reg">“Your signet ring, cord, and the staff in your hand,” she suggested. So he gave them to her, had sex with her, and she became pregnant by him. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/38-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>Then she got up and left. Later, she took off her shawl and put on her mourning clothes.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/38-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>Later on, Judah sent his Adullamite friend to take her a young goat, intending to retrieve what he had put up as security from the woman, but he could not find her. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/38-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>He asked the men who lived in that area, “Where’s that temple prostitute who was sitting alongside the road at Enaim?”</p> <p class="reg">But they replied, “There’s been no temple prostitute here.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/38-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>So he returned to Judah and said, “I haven’t found her. Also, the men who are from there said, ‘There’s been no prostitute here.’”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/38-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>Then Judah said, “Let her have those things.<span class="fn"><a href="#ftn" title="38:23 Lit. it">d</a></span> Otherwise, we’ll become contemptible. I sent this young goat, but you didn’t find her.”</p> <p class="heading">Tamar’s Pregnancy Rebukes Judah</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/38-24.htm"><b>24</b></a></span>Three months later, it was reported to Judah, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has turned to prostitution!<span class="fn"><a href="#ftn" title="38:24 Lit. has been acting like a whore">e</a></span> And look! She’s pregnant because of it!”</p> <p class="reg">“Bring her out,” Judah responded. “Let’s burn her to death!”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/38-25.htm"><b>25</b></a></span>While they were bringing her out, she sent this message to her father-in-law: “I am pregnant by the man to whom these things belong. Furthermore,” she added, “tell me to whom this signet ring, cord, and staff belongs.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/38-26.htm"><b>26</b></a></span>When Judah recognized them, he admitted, “She is more upright than I, because I never did give her my son Shelah.” And he never had sex with her again.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/38-27.htm"><b>27</b></a></span>Later, when it was time for Tamar<span class="fn"><a href="#ftn" title="38:27 Lit. her">f</a></span> to give birth, she was carrying twins in her womb! <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/38-28.htm"><b>28</b></a></span>While she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand, so the midwife grabbed it and tied something scarlet around his hand, observing, “This one came out first.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/38-29.htm"><b>29</b></a></span>As it was, he withdrew his hand, and then his brother was born. Amazed, the midwife<span class="fn"><a href="#ftn" title="38:29 Lit. Amazed, she">g</a></span> cried out loud, “What’s this? A breach birth?” So that boy<span class="fn"><a href="#ftn" title="38:29 Lit. So he">h</a></span> was named Perez.<span class="fn"><a href="#ftn" title="38:29 The Heb. name Perez means breach">i</a></span> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/38-30.htm"><b>30</b></a></span>Afterwards, his brother came out, and around his hand was the scarlet. So they named him Zerah.<span class="fn"><a href="#ftn" title="38:30 The Heb. name Zerah means rising">j</a></span> </p><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><A name="ftn"></a><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="fn1"><span class="fnb">a</span> 38:2 Lit. <i>saw</i><br /><span class="fnb">b</span> 38:2 Lit. <i>took</i><br /><span class="fnb">c</span> 38:11 Lit. <i>he</i><br /><span class="fnb">d</span> 38:23 Lit. <i>it</i><br /><span class="fnb">e</span> 38:24 Lit. <i>has been acting like a whore</i><br /><span class="fnb">f</span> 38:27 Lit. <i>her</i><br /><span class="fnb">g</span> 38:29 Lit. <i>Amazed, she</i><br /><span class="fnb">h</span> 38:29 Lit. <i>So he</i><br /><span class="fnb">i</span> 38:29 The Heb. name <i>Perez </i>means <i>breach</i><br /><span class="fnb">j</span> 38:30 The Heb. name <i>Zerah </i>means <i>rising</i><br /></span><br><br><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><div align="center"><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1<br />Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation<br />ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/">Bible Hub</a></div></div></div></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="left"><a href="../genesis/37.htm" onmouseover='lft.src="/leftgif.png"' onmouseout='lft.src="/left.png"' title="Genesis 37"><img src="/left.png" name="lft" border="0" alt="Genesis 37" /></a></div><div id="right"><a href="../genesis/39.htm" onmouseover='rght.src="/rightgif.png"' onmouseout='rght.src="/right.png"' title="Genesis 39"><img src="/right.png" name="rght" border="0" alt="Genesis 39" /></a></div><div id="botleft"><a href="#" onmouseover='botleft.src="/botleftgif.png"' onmouseout='botleft.src="/botleft.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botleft.png" name="botleft" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="botright"><a href="#" onmouseover='botright.src="/botrightgif.png"' onmouseout='botright.src="/botright.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botright.png" name="botright" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="rightbox"><div class="padright"><div id="pic"><iframe width="100%" height="860" scrolling="no" src="//biblescan.com/mpc/genesis/38-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></div></div><div id="rightbox4"><div class="padright2"><div id="spons1"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tr><td class="sp1"><iframe width="122" height="860" scrolling="no" src="../sidemenu.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></div><div id="bot"><div align="center" style="background-color:#F2FAFF"><br /><br /><div class="bot2"><table align="center" width="100%"><tr><td><script async src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>  <ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-3753401421161123" data-ad-slot="6710025936" data-ad-format="auto"></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script></td></tr></table><br /><br /><table align="center" width="100%"><tr><td><script async src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>  <ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-3753401421161123" data-ad-slot="6710025936" data-ad-format="auto"></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script></td></tr></table></div><br /><br /> </div><iframe width="100%" height="1500" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/botmenubhnm2.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe><div align="center"><span class="p"><br /><br /><br /></span></div></div></td></tr></table></div></body></html>