Genesis 38:20

20 When Judah sent the young * goat * by his friend the Adullamite, to receive the pledge from the woman's hand, he did not find her.

Genesis 38:20 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 38:20

And Judah sent the kid by the hand of his friend the
Adullamite
Who went with him to Timnath, and was privy to all this wickedness, and kept the secret; but would have acted the more friendly and faithful part had he dissuaded him from it: him he employed to carry the kid he had promised, and not any of his servants, for the greater secrecy: and to receive [his] pledge from the woman's hand;
his signet, bracelets, and staff, or whatever they were: but he found her not;
she was gone from the place where she sat, or where she retired to with Judah.

Genesis 38:20 In-Context

18 He said, "What pledge shall I give you?" And she said, "Your seal and your cord, and your staff that is in your hand." So he gave them to her and went in to her, and she conceived by him.

19 Then she arose and departed, and removed her veil and put on her widow's garments.

20 When Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite, to receive the pledge from the woman's hand, he did not find her.

21 He asked the men of her place, saying, "Where is the temple prostitute who was by the road at Enaim?" But they said, "There has been no temple prostitute here."

22 So he returned to Judah, and said, "I did not find her; and furthermore, the men of the place said, 'There has been no temple prostitute here.' "

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "kid of goats by the hand of"