Genesi 38:18

18 Ed egli: "Che pegno ti darò?" E l’altra rispose: "Il tuo sigillo, il tuo cordone e il bastone che hai in mano". Egli glieli dette, andò da lei, ed ella rimase incinta di lui.

Genesi 38:18 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 38:18

And he said, what pledge shall I give thee?
&c.] Being willing to part with anything for the gratification of his lust: and she said, thy signet, and thy bracelets, and thy staff that [is]
in thine hand;
she asks all these, that if one should be lost, or fail of being sufficient proof, the other might: the first of these the Septuagint version renders, "thy ring"; the ring upon his finger, which had a seal on it, and was the signet of his right hand; so Onkelos and Ben Melech: the second word seems not so well rendered, since "bracelets" were wore by women and not men: Jarchi takes it to be a garment with which he was covered; so Ben Melech and the Targum, a cloak, which is not likely, that she should desire him to strip off his clothes: it seems to be either a covering of his head, a wrap of linen such as the Turks wear, or else a handkerchief he had in his pocket; and the staff in his hand was either his walking staff or a shepherd's crook or staff: and he gave [it] her,
all the above things as a pledge: and came in unto her;
not on the public road, but in some private place at some distance, to which they retired. Maimonides ^F3 says, before the law was given, if a man met a woman in the street, and he and she agreed, he gave her hire, and he lay with her, and went away, and such an one was called "Kedeshah", a harlot, the word used afterwards for Tamar: and she conceived by him;
she proved with child upon it.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F3 Hilchot lshot, c. 1. sect. 4.

Genesi 38:18 In-Context

16 E accostatosi a lei sulla via, le disse: "Lasciami venire da te!" Poiché non sapeva ch’ella fosse sua nuora. Ed ella rispose: "Che mi darai per venire da me?"

17 Ed egli le disse: "Ti manderò un capretto del mio gregge". Ed ella: "Mi darai tu un pegno finché tu me l’abbia mandato?"

18 Ed egli: "Che pegno ti darò?" E l’altra rispose: "Il tuo sigillo, il tuo cordone e il bastone che hai in mano". Egli glieli dette, andò da lei, ed ella rimase incinta di lui.

19 Poi ella si levò, e se ne andò; si tolse il velo, e si rimise le vesti da vedova.

20 E Giuda mandò il capretto per mezzo del suo amico, l’Adullamita, affin di ritirare il pegno di man di quella donna; ma egli non la trovò.