Genesis 38:15

15 And Judah saw her and reckoned her to [be] a prostitute, for she had covered her face.

Genesis 38:15 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 38:15

When Judah saw her, he thought her [to be] an harlot
By her posture and the place she was in: because she had covered her face;
with her veil, that he did not know her; for this is not given as a reason why he took her to be an harlot; the reason of this was, because she sat in the public road; but having covered her face he could not discern who she was, and therefore, from the other circumstance, concluded that she was an harlot, and sat there to prostitute herself to any that passed by.

Genesis 38:15 In-Context

13 And it was told to Tamar, saying, "Look, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep."

14 So she removed the clothes of her widowhood and covered [herself] with the veil and disguised herself. And she sat at the entrance to Eynayim, which [is] on the way to Timnah, for she saw that Shelah was grown but she had not been given to him as a wife.

15 And Judah saw her and reckoned her to [be] a prostitute, for she had covered her face.

16 And he turned aside to her at the roadside and said, "Please come, let me come in to you," for he did not know that she [was] his daughter-in-law. And she said, "What will you give to me that you may come in to me?"

17 And he said, "I will send a kid from the goats of the flock." And she said, "[Only] if you give a pledge until you send [it]."