Genesis 38Book 1 of 66 · 29 verses · MBT primary, NKJV fallback where MBT pending

1. It came to pass at that time that Judah went down from his brothers and stayed with a certain Adullamite whose name was Hirah.
2. And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua, and he took her as a wife and went in to her.
3. So she conceived and bore a son, and he named him Er.
4. She conceived again and bore a son, and she named him Onan.
5. She conceived yet again and bore a son, and named him Shelah, and Judah was at Chezib when she bore him.
6. Then Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, whose name was Tamar.
7. But Er, Judah's firstborn, was evil in the sight of the LORD, so the LORD put him to death.
8. Then Judah said to Onan, "Go in to your brother's wife and perform your duty as a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother."
9. But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his, and it came to pass when he went in to his brother's wife that he spilled his semen on the ground so as not to give offspring to his brother.
10. And what he did was evil in the sight of the LORD, therefore He took his life also.
11. Then Judah said to Tamar his daughter-in-law, "Remain a widow in your father's house till my son Shelah grows up," for he feared that he also might die like his brothers, and Tamar went and remained in her father's house.
12. Now in the course of time the daughter of Shua, Judah's wife, died, and when Judah had finished mourning, he went up to his sheepshearers at Timnah, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite.
13. And it was told Tamar, saying, "Look, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep."
14. So she took off her widow's garments, covered herself with a veil and wrapped herself, and sat at the entrance to Enaim which was on the road to Timnah, for she saw that Shelah had grown up and she had not been given to him in marriage.
15. When Judah noticed her, he thought she was a prostitute, because she had covered her face.
16. Then he turned aside to her by the roadside and said, "Please let me come in to you," for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law, so she said, "What will you give me, that you may come in to me?"
17. And he said, "I will send you a young goat from the flock." So she said, "Will you give me a pledge until you send it?"
18. Then he said, "What pledge shall I give you?" So she replied, "Your signet and cord, and your staff that is in your hand." Then he gave them to her, and went in to her, and she conceived by him.
19. So she arose and went away, and removed her veil and put on her widow's garments.
20. And Judah sent the young goat by the hand of his friend the Adullamite to take back his pledge from the woman's hand, but he did not find her.
21. Then he asked the men of that place, saying, "Where is the cult prostitute who was openly by the roadside at Enaim?" And they said, "There was no cult prostitute in this place."
22. So he returned to Judah and said, "I couldn't find her anywhere, and furthermore the men of the place said there was no prostitute here."
23. About three months later Judah was told, "Tamar your daughter-in-law has played the harlot; furthermore she is with child by harlotry." So Judah said, "Bring her out and let her be burned to death!"
24. As she was being brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law saying, "I am pregnant by the man to whom these items belong," and she said, "Please identify whose these are—the signet and cord and staff."
25. So Judah recognized them and said, "She is more righteous than I, because I did not give her to Shelah my son." And he never knew her again.
26. Now it came to pass, at the time of her labor, that behold, twins were in her womb.
27. And so it was, when she was in labor, that one of them put out his hand, and the midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it on his hand, saying, "This one came out first."
28. Then it happened, as he pulled back his hand, that his brother came out instead; and she said, "What a breach you have made for yourself!" Therefore his name was called Perez.
29. Afterward his brother came out who had the scarlet thread tied on his hand, and his name was called Zerah.