Genesis 38

38 ¹At that time Judah left his brothers and went to a man from Adullam named Hirah. ²There Judah saw the daughter of a Canaanite named Shua. He married and slept with her. ³She became pregnant and gave birth to a son, and Judah named him Er. ⁴She became pregnant again and gave birth to a son, and she named him Onan. ⁵She bore yet another son and named him Shelah; she was at Chezib when she bore him. ⁶Judah took a wife for his firstborn son Er; her name was Tamar. ⁷But Er, Judah's firstborn, was evil before our Father, and our Father put him to death. ⁸Then Judah told Onan, "Sleep with your brother's wife, do your duty as her brother-in-law, and raise children for your brother." ^a a v8 By ancient custom, a man whose brother died childless fathered a child with the widow to carry on the brother's name — the duty Onan refused. ⁹But Onan knew the child would not be his, so whenever he slept with his brother's wife, he spilled his seed on the ground, to give his brother no child. ¹⁰What he did was evil in our Father's sight, so he put him to death too. ¹¹Judah told his daughter-in-law Tamar, "Stay a widow in your father's house till my son Shelah grows up"—thinking, "He might die like his brothers." So Tamar lived in her father's house.

¹²Long afterward, Judah's wife, Shua's daughter, died. When Judah was comforted, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went up to his sheepshearers at Timnah. ¹³Tamar was told, "Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep." ¹⁴So she removed her widow's clothes, covered herself with a veil, wrapped up, and sat at the entrance to Enaim on the road to Timnah—for she saw that Shelah had grown up but she was not given to him as his wife. ¹⁵When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, because she had covered her face. ¹⁶He turned to her by the road and said, "Let me sleep with you"—not knowing she was his daughter-in-law. She said, "What will you give me to sleep with you?"

¹⁷He said, "I'll send you a young goat from the flock." She said, "Will you give me a pledge until you send it?"

¹⁸He said, "What pledge should I give you?" She said, "Your seal, its cord, and the staff in your hand." He gave them to her, slept with her, and she conceived by him.

¹⁹She got up and left, took off her veil, and put her widow's clothes back on. ²⁰Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite to get the pledge back from the woman, but he couldn't find her. ²¹He asked the local men, "Where's the shrine prostitute who was by the road at Enaim?" They said, "No shrine prostitute has been here."

²²So he returned to Judah, saying, "I could not find her, and the local men said no shrine prostitute had been there." ²³Then Judah said, "Let her keep them, or we'll be mocked. I sent her this young goat, but you didn't find her."

²⁴About three months later, Judah was told, "Your daughter-in-law Tamar has prostituted herself, and she's now pregnant from it." Judah said, "Bring her out and burn her!"

²⁵As she was brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law: "I am pregnant by the man these belong to. Please identify whose seal, cord, and staff these are."

²⁶Judah recognized them and said, "She is more righteous than I, since I didn't give her to my son Shelah." He never slept with her again.

²⁷When the time came for her to give birth, there were twins in her womb. ²⁸As she gave birth, one put out a hand. The midwife tied a scarlet thread on it: "This one came out first." ²⁹As he drew back his hand, his brother came out, and she said, "What a breach you've made for yourself!" So the brother who came out was named Perez. ^b b v29 Perez — whose name means 'a breach' — becomes the ancestor of King David and, through David, of Jesus (Matthew 1:3, Ruth 4:18-22). Our Father weaves the line of his Son through the most unlikely chapter, honoring Tamar's faithfulness and beginning the lineage that ends at the manger. ³⁰Then his brother came out with the scarlet thread on his hand, and was named Zerah. ^c c v30 The name Zerah is linked to "brightness" or "dawning."