1At that time, Judah went down from his brothers, and visited a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. 2There, Judah saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite man named Shua. He took her, and went in to her. 3She conceived, and bore a son; and he named him Er. 4She conceived again, and bore a son; and she named him Onan. 5She yet again bore a son, and named him Shelah. He was at Chezib when she bore him. 6Judah took a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. 7Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in Yahweh’s sight. So Yahweh killed him. 8Judah said to Onan, “Go in to your brother’s wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her, and raise up offspring for your brother.” 9Onan knew that the offspring wouldn’t be his; and when he went in to his brother’s wife, he spilled his semen on the ground, lest he should give offspring to his brother. 10The thing which he did was evil in Yahweh’s sight, and he killed him also. 11Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, “Remain a widow in your father’s house, until Shelah, my son, is grown up;” for he said, “Lest he also die, like his brothers.” Tamar went and lived in her father’s house.
12After many days, Shua’s daughter, the wife of Judah, died. Judah was comforted, and went up to his sheep shearers to Timnah, he and his friend Hirah, the Adullamite. 13Tamar was told, “Behold, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep.” 14She took off the garments of her widowhood, and covered herself with her veil, and wrapped herself, and sat in the gate of Enaim, which is on the way to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah was grown up, and she wasn’t given to him as a wife. 15When Judah saw her, he thought that she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. 16He turned to her by the way, and said, “Please come, let me come in to you,” for he didn’t know that she was his daughter-in-law.
She said, “What will you give me, that you may come in to me?”
17He said, “I will send you a young goat from the flock.”
She said, “Will you give me a pledge, until you send it?”
18He said, “What pledge will I give you?”
She said, “Your signet and your cord, and your staff that is in your hand.”
He gave them to her, and came in to her, and she conceived by him. 19She arose, and went away, and put off her veil from her, and put on the garments of her widowhood. 20Judah sent the young goat by the hand of his friend, the Adullamite, to receive the pledge from the woman’s hand, but he didn’t find her. 21Then he asked the men of her place, saying, “Where is the prostitute, that was at Enaim by the road?”
They said, “There has been no prostitute here.”
22He returned to Judah, and said, “I haven’t found her; and also the men of the place said, ‘There has been no prostitute here.’” 23Judah said, “Let her keep it, lest we be shamed. Behold, I sent this young goat, and you haven’t found her.”
24About three months later, Judah was told, “Tamar, your daughter-in-law, has played the prostitute. Moreover, behold, she is with child by prostitution.”
Judah said, “Bring her out, and let her be burned.” 25When she was brought out, she sent to her father-in-law, saying, “I am with child by the man who owns these.” She also said, “Please discern whose these are—the signet, and the cords, and the staff.”
26Judah acknowledged them, and said, “She is more righteous than I, because I didn’t give her to Shelah, my son.”
He knew her again no more. 27In the time of her travail, behold, twins were in her womb. 28When she travailed, one put out a hand, and the midwife took and tied a scarlet thread on his hand, saying, “This came out first.” 29As he drew back his hand, behold, his brother came out, and she said, “Why have you made a breach for yourself?” Therefore his name was called Perez. 30Afterward his brother came out, who had the scarlet thread on his hand, and his name was called Zerah.
The story (in Gen 38:6-36) regarding Judah and the woman Tamar is a complex narrative that reveals several areas of marital practices of persons living in the Ancient Near East. First of all, is the practice of Levirate Marriage. When a husband died, the brother of the deceased brother was obligated to take his brother's wife and bear children for his brother by the brother's wife. However, it becomes quite complex in the case of Judah's sons and Tamar. Several of Judah's sons died for a variety of reasons, and the woman Tamar became the wife of each of these brothers. Upon the death of Onan, who died because of violating God's law, Judah had Tamar go to her father's home to wait for the next son of Judah who was only a boy at the time. In the story, Judah's wife died and he went to the city of Timnah. In the meantime, Tamar removed her widow's garments and disguised herself, since it became obvious that Judah was not going to be given to Shelah, who had become a man. She acted as a prostitute, disguising herself to fool Judah into having sexual relations with her to bear a child, it appears, and he had relations with her.
The story continues by showing Judah's hypocrisy. He denied Tamar, in violation of the levirate practice, from bearing children as would be expected with the mature Shelah, and yet when she was found with child, he sought to have her killed, though he saw no issue in his having sex with an alleged prostitute. Tamar turned the tables on this attempt by showing the items that Judah had left with her but finally admitted that Tamar was more righteous than he had been. From this sinful union, however, Tamar bore two children, Perez and Zerah.
The account in Genesis 38 demonstrates several matters of proper marital responsibilities, including the duty of following the Levirate law, the issue of deception by Judah and Tamar, and the attempt to maintain justice by Tamar in the cultural period of this story. One may also see that God's plan and providence are furthered, despite human activity, in that Perez and Zerah became ancestors of the tribe of Judah, partly affirmed in that Tamar is among the few women mentioned in the genealogy (family histories) of the ancestors of the Messiah, Jesus.