# Genesis 38

> Lumin Translation

Source: https://www.lumin.faith/read/genesis/38

Lumin’s own translation, drafted with AI from the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, checked verse by verse against them, and approved by Lumin. Brackets mark verses not found in the earliest manuscripts.

How it was made: https://www.lumin.faith/lumin-translation.md

1. At that time Judah left his brothers and went down to stay with a man of Adullam named Hirah.
2. There Judah saw the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua. He married her and slept with her,
3. and she conceived and gave birth to a son, and he named him Er.
4. She conceived again and gave birth to a son, and she named him Onan.
5. She gave birth to yet another son and named him Shelah. Judah was at Chezib when she gave birth to him.
6. Judah got a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.
7. But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was evil in the sight of Yahweh, so Yahweh put him to death.
8. Then Judah said to Onan, “Sleep with your brother’s wife and do your duty as her brother-in-law. Raise up offspring for your brother.”
9. But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his, so whenever he slept with his brother’s wife, he wasted his seed on the ground so as not to give offspring to his brother.
10. What he did was evil in the sight of Yahweh, so he put him to death too.
11. Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Live as a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah grows up.” For he thought, “He might die too, like his brothers.” So Tamar went and lived in her father’s house.
12. After a long time Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah was comforted, he went up to Timnah to his sheepshearers, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite.
13. Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep.”
14. So she took off her widow’s clothes, covered herself with a veil, wrapped herself up, and sat down at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that Shelah had grown up, and she had not been given to him as his wife.
15. When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, because she had covered her face.
16. He turned aside to her by the road and said, “Come, let me sleep with you,” for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. She said, “What will you give me to sleep with me?”
17. He answered, “I will send you a young goat from the flock.” She said, “Only if you give me a pledge until you send it.”
18. He said, “What pledge should I give you?” She answered, “Your seal and its cord, and the staff in your hand.” So he gave them to her and slept with her, and she conceived by him.
19. Then she got up and left. She took off her veil and put her widow’s clothes back on.
20. Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite to get the pledge back from the woman, but he could not find her.
21. He asked the men of that place, “Where is the shrine prostitute who was at Enaim by the road?” They said, “There has been no shrine prostitute here.”
22. So he went back to Judah and said, “I could not find her. The men of the place also said, ‘There has been no shrine prostitute here.’”
23. Judah said, “Let her keep the things, or we will become a laughingstock. After all, I did send this young goat, but you could not find her.”
24. About three months later Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has acted like a prostitute, and what is more, she is pregnant as a result.” Judah said, “Bring her out, and let her be burned!”
25. As she was being brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law: “I am pregnant by the man who owns these.” And she said, “Please examine them. Whose seal and cord and staff are these?”
26. Judah recognized them and said, “She is more in the right than I am, because I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not sleep with her again.
27. When the time came for her to give birth, there were twins in her womb.
28. As she was giving birth, one of them put out a hand, and the midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it on his hand, saying, “This one came out first.”
29. But as he drew back his hand, his brother came out. She said, “What a breach you have made for yourself!” So he was named Perez.
30. Afterward his brother came out, the one with the scarlet thread on his hand, and he was named Zerah.

## Nearby chapters

[Genesis 37](https://www.lumin.faith/read/genesis/37.md)
[Genesis 39](https://www.lumin.faith/read/genesis/39.md)

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