15
When Y'hudah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, because she had covered her face.
16
So he went over to her where she was sitting and said, not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, "Come, let me sleep with you." She answered, "What will you pay to sleep with me?"
17
He said, "I will send you a kid from the flock of goats." She said, "Will you also give me something as a guarantee until you send it"
18
He answered, "What should I give you as a guarantee?" She said, "Your seal, with its cord, and the staff you're carrying in your hand." So he gave them to her, then went and slept with her; and she conceived by him.
19
She got up and went away, took off her veil and put on her widow's clothes.
20
Y'hudah sent the kid with his friend the 'Adulami to receive the guarantee items back from the woman, but he couldn't find her.
21
He asked the people near where she had been, "Where is the prostitute who was on the road at 'Einayim?" But they answered,"There hasn't been any prostitute here."
22
So he returned to Y'hudah and said, "I couldn't find her; also the people there said, 'There hasn't been any prostitute here.'"
23
Y'hudah said, "All right, let her keep the things, so that we won't be publicly shamed. I sent the kid, but you didn't find her."
24
About three months later Y'hudah was told, "Tamar your daughter-in-law has been acting like a whore; moreover, she is pregnant as a result of her prostitution."Y'hudah said, "Bring her out, and let her be burned alive!"
25
When she was brought out, she sent this message to her father-in-law: "I am pregnant by the man to whom these things belong. Determine, I beg you, whose these are - the signet, the cords and the staff."