The One Year Chronological Study Bible - Flipbook - Page 56
page 52
seal and its cord and the walking stick you are
carrying.” So Judah gave them to her. Then he
had intercourse with her, and she became pregnant. 19Afterward she went back home, took off
her veil, and put on her widow’s clothing as
usual.
20 Later Ju dah asked his friend Hirah the
Adullamite to take the young goat to the
woman and to pick up the things he had given
her as his guarantee. But Hirah couldn’t find
her. 21 So he asked the men who lived there,
“Where can I find the shrine prostitute who
was sitting beside the road at the entrance to
Enaim?”
“We’ve never had a shrine prostitute here,”
they replied.
22 So Hirah returned to Judah and told him,
“I couldn’t find her anywhere, and the men of
the village claim they’ve never had a shrine
prostitute there.”
23 “Then let her keep the things I gave her,” Judah said. “I sent the young goat as we agreed,
but you couldn’t find her. We’d be the laughingstock of the village if we went back again to look
for her.”
24About three months later, Judah was told,
“Tamar, your daughter-in-law, has acted like
a prostitute. And now, because of this, she’s
pregnant.”
“Bring her out, and let her be burned!” Judah
demanded.
25 But as they were taking her out to kill her,
she sent this message to her father-in-law: “The
man who owns these things made me pregnant.
Look closely. Whose seal and cord and walking
stick are these?”
26 Judah recognized them immediately and
said, “She is more righteous than I am, because
I didn’t arrange for her to marry my son Shelah.”
And Judah never slept with Tamar again.
27 When the time came for Ta mar to give
birth, it was discovered that she was carrying
twins. 28 While she was in labor, one of the
babies reached out his hand. The midwife
grabbed it and tied a scarlet string around the
child’s wrist, announcing, “This one came out
first.” 29 But then he pulled back his hand, and
out came his brother! “What!” the midwife exclaimed. “How did you break out first?” So he
was named Perez.* 30 Then the baby with the
scarlet string on his wrist was born, and he
was named Zerah.*
DIVIDED
KINGDOM
38:29 Perez means “breaking out.” 38:30 Zerah means “scarlet” or
“brightness.”
KINGDOM
EXODUS
PATRIARCH
PATRIARCH
CREATION
when she gave birth to a third son, she named
him Shelah. At the time of Shelah’s birth, they
were living at Kezib.
6 In the course of time, Judah arranged for
his firstborn son, Er, to marry a young woman
named Tamar. 7 But Er was a wicked man in the
Lord’s sight, so the Lord took his life. 8 Then
Judah said to Er’s brother Onan, “Go and marry
Tamar, as our law requires of the brother of a
man who has died. You must produce an heir for
your brother.”
9 But Onan was not willing to have a child who
would not be his own heir. So whenever he had
intercourse with his brother’s wife, he spilled
the semen on the ground. This prevented her
from having a child who would belong to his
brother. 10 But the Lord considered it evil for
Onan to deny a child to his dead brother. So the
Lord took Onan’s life, too.
11 Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-inlaw, “Go back to your parents’ home and remain
a widow until my son Shelah is old enough to
marry you.” (But Judah didn’t really intend to
do this because he was afraid Shelah would also
die, like his two brothers.) So Tamar went back
to live in her father’s home.
12 Some years later Judah’s wife died. After the
time of mourning was over, Judah and his friend
Hirah the Adullamite went up to Timnah to
supervise the shearing of his sheep. 13 Someone
told Tamar, “Look, your father-in-law is going up
to Timnah to shear his sheep.”
14 Tamar was aware that Shelah had grown
up, but no arrangements had been made for
her to come and marry him. So she changed
out of her widow’s clothing and covered herself with a veil to disguise herself. Then she sat
beside the road at the entrance to the village of
Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. 15 Judah
noticed her and thought she was a prostitute,
since she had covered her face. 16 So he stopped
and propositioned her. “Let me have sex with
you,” he said, not realizing that she was his
own daughter-in-law.
“How much will you pay to have sex with
me?” Tamar asked.
17 “I’ll send you a young goat from my flock,”
Judah promised.
“But what will you give me to guarantee that
you will send the goat?” she asked.
18 “What kind of guarantee do you want?” he
replied.
She answered, “Leave me your identification
JUDGES
•
CONQUEST
JAN UARY 14
