¹⁴ she took off her widow’s clothes,^(A) covered herself with a veil^(B) to disguise herself, and then sat down^(C) at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah.^(D) For she saw that, though Shelah^(E) had now grown up, she had not been given to him as his wife.

¹⁵ When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute,^(F) for she had covered her face. ¹⁶ Not realizing^(G) that she was his daughter-in-law,^(H) he went over to her by the roadside and said, “Come now, let me sleep with you.”^(I)

“And what will you give me to sleep with you?”^(J) she asked.

¹⁷ “I’ll send you a young goat^(K) from my flock,” he said.

“Will you give me something as a pledge^(L) until you send it?” she asked.

¹⁸ He said, “What pledge should I give you?”

“Your seal^(M) and its cord, and the staff^(N) in your hand,” she answered. So he gave them to her and slept with her, and she became pregnant by him.^{(O) 19} After she left, she took off her veil and put on her widow’s clothes^(P) again.

²⁰ Meanwhile Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite^(Q) in order to get his pledge^(R) back from the woman, but he did not find her. ²¹ He asked the men who lived there, “Where is the shrine prostitute^(S) who was beside the road at Enaim?”

“There hasn’t been any shrine prostitute here,” they said.

²² So he went back to Judah and said, “I didn’t find her. Besides, the men who lived there said, ‘There hasn’t been any shrine prostitute here.’”

²³ Then Judah said, “Let her keep what she has,^(T) or we will become a laughingstock.^(U) After all, I did send her this young goat, but you didn’t find her.”

²⁴ About three months later Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar is guilty of prostitution, and as a result she is now pregnant.”

Judah said, “Bring her out and have her burned to death!”^(V)