14
So she changed from the widow's clothes she had been wearing, covered her face with a veil, and sat down at the entrance to Enaim, a town on the road to Timnah. As she well knew, Judah's youngest son Shelah was now grown up, and yet she had not been given to him in marriage.
15
When Judah saw her, he thought that she was a prostitute, because she had her face covered.
16
He went over to her at the side of the road and said, "All right, how much do you charge?" (He did not know that she was his daughter-in-law.) She said, "What will you give me?"
17
He answered, "I will send you a young goat from my flock." She said, "All right, if you will give me something to keep as a pledge until you send the goat."
18
"What shall I give you as a pledge?" he asked. She answered, "Your seal with its cord and the walking stick you are carrying." He gave them to her. Then they had intercourse, and she became pregnant.
19
Tamar went home, took off her veil, and put her widow's clothes back on.
20
Judah sent his friend Hirah to take the goat and get back from the woman the articles he had pledged, but Hirah could not find her.
21
He asked some men at Enaim, "Where is the prostitute who was here by the road?" "There has never been a prostitute here," they answered.
22
He returned to Judah and said, "I couldn't find her. The men of the place said that there had never been a prostitute there."
23
Judah said, "Let her keep the things. We don't want people to laugh at us. I did try to pay her, but you couldn't find her."
24
About three months later someone told Judah, "Your daughter-in-law Tamar has been acting like a whore, and now she is pregnant." Judah ordered, "Take her out and burn her to death."