1 It happened at that time that Judah lost his possessions and parted from his brothers, and turned aside to an Adullamite man whose name was Hirah. 2 There Judah saw the daughter of a merchant whose name was Shua; and he proselytized her and went in unto her. 3 And she conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Er, because he was destined to die childless. 4 And she conceived again and bore a son, and she called his name Onan, because his father was indeed destined to grieve because of him. 5 Yet again she bore a son, and she called his name Shelah, because her husband had forgotten her. He was in Paskath when she bore him. 6 Judah took a wife for Er his first-born, the daughter of Shem the Great, whose name was Tamar. 7 But Er, the first-born of Judah, was evil before the Lord, because he did not have intercourse with his wife according to the manner of all the earth. And the anger of the Lord blazed forth against him, and the Lord killed him. 8 And Judah said to Onan, “Go in unto your brother’s wife and take her in levirate marriage, and raise up offspring to your brother's name.” 9 But Onan knew that the children would not be called by his name; and when he went in unto his brother’s wife, he destroyed his deed upon the ground, so as not to raise up children to his brother's name. 10 And what he did was displeasing before the Lord, and he cut short his days also. 11 Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Remain a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah grows up”; for he thought, “Perhaps he too may die like his brothers.” So Tamar went and dwelt in her father’s house. 12 Many days went by, and Shua’s daughter, the wife of Judah, died. When Judah was comforted, he went up to Timnah to his sheepshearers, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. 13 Tamar was told, saying, “Behold, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his flock.” 14 So she took off the garments of her widowhood, covered herself with a veil, wrapped herself up, and sat at the crossroads on the way to Timnah, where all eyes look. For she saw that Shelah had grown up, and she had not been given to him as wife. 15 Judah saw her, and in his eyes he compared her to a harlot, because she was of sullen appearance in the house of Judah, and Judah did not love her. 16 He turned aside to her by the road and said, “Come now, let me go in unto you,” for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. And she said, “What will you give me that you may come in unto me?” 17 He said, “I will send a kid from the flock.” And she said, “Will you give me a pledge until you send it?” 18 And he said, “What pledge shall I give you?” And she said, “Your signet-ring and your fringes, and the staff that is in your hand.” So he gave them to her and went in unto her, and she conceived by him. 19 Then she arose and went away, took off her veil, and put on the garments of her widowhood. 20 And Judah sent the kid by his friend the Adullamite, to receive the pledge from the hand of the woman. But he did not find her. 21 And he asked the men of the place, saying, “Where is the prostitute who was at the place on the way where eyes look?” And they said, “There was no prostitute here.” 22 So he returned to Judah and said, “I did not find her; the men of the place said, ‘There was no prostitute here.’” 23 And Judah said, “Let her keep the pledges, lest we become a laughingstock; behold, I sent this kid but you did not find her.” 24 Now, after a period of three months it became known that she was pregnant; and Judah was told, as follows: “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has played the harlot; and moreover, behold, she is pregnant because of her harlotry.”⁠a And Judah said, “Is she not the daughter of a priest? Bring her out and let her be burned.” 25 So Tamar was brought out to be burned, and she looked for the three pledges but did not find them. She lifted up her eyes to the heavens on high and said thus: “I beseech by the mercies before you, O Lord, answer me in this hour of my distress, and enlighten my eyes that I may find my three witnesses. And I will raise up for you from my loins three holy ones who will sanctify your name by going down to the furnace of fire in the valley of Dura.” That hour, the Holy One, blessed be he, beckoned to Michael, and he enlightened her eyes so that she found them. She took them and threw them at the feet of the judges and said, “The man to whom these pledges belong, by him I am pregnant. Yet even if I were burned I would not make him known. But the Lord of the world will put it in his heart to recognize them, and he will deliver me from this great judgment.” And when Judah saw them he recognized them. Then he said in his heart, “It is better for me to be ashamed in this world, which is a passing world, than to be ashamed in the presence of my fathers, the righteous ones, in the world to come; it is better for me to be burned in this life in extinguishable fire than to burn in the world to come in inextinguishable fire. For this is measure for measure, according to what I said to my father Jacob: ‘Identify; I pray, your son's cloak.’ Because of that I must hear in the courthouse: ‘Identify; I pray, whose are these, the signet-ring, the fringes, and the staff?’” 26 Then Judah acknowledged them and said, “Tamar is innocent; she is pregnant by me.” Then a heavenly voice came down from heaven and said, “The matter has come from before me.” So both of them were delivered from the judgment. And he said, “Because I did not give her to my son Shelah this has happened to me.” And he did not know her again in sexual intercourse. 27 When the time came for her to give birth, behold there were twins in her womb. 28 And when she was giving birth, an infant put forth its hand; and the midwife took a crimson thread and tied it on his hand saying, “This one came out first.” 29 But when the infant drew back its hand, behold, his brother came forth, and she said, “With what great power you have prevailed! And it is you who are to prevail, since you are destined to possess the kingship.” And she called his name Perez. 30 Afterwards his brother who had the crimson thread tied to his hand came out; and she called his name Zerah.