15. When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute. This was because she had covered her face with a veil.
16. So Judah went to her and said, “Let me have physical relations with you.” He did not know that she was Tamar, his daughter-in-law.She asked, “What will you give me if I let you have physical relations with me?”
17. Judah answered, “I will send you a young goat from my flock.”She answered, “First give me something to keep as a deposit until you send the goat.”
18. Judah asked, “What do you want me to give you as a deposit?”Tamar answered, “Give me your seal and its cord, and give me your walking stick.” So Judah gave these things to her. Then Judah and Tamar had physical relations, and Tamar became pregnant.
19. Tamar went home. She took off the veil that covered her face. And she put on the clothes that showed she was a widow.
20. Judah sent his friend Hirah with the young goat. Judah told Hirah to find the woman and get back his seal and the walking stick he had given her. But Hirah could not find her.
21. Hirah asked some of the men at the town of Enaim, “Where is the prostitute who was here by the road?”The men answered, “There has never been a prostitute here.”
22. So he went back to Judah and said, “I could not find the woman. The men who lived there said, ‘There has never been a prostitute here.’”
23. Judah said, “Let her keep the things. I don’t want people to laugh at us. I sent her the goat as I promised. But you could not find her.”
24. About three months later someone told Judah, “Tamar, your daughter-in-law, is guilty of acting like a prostitute. Now she is pregnant.”Then Judah said, “Bring her out and let her be burned to death.”
25. When the men went to bring Tamar out, she sent a message to her father-in-law. She said, “The man who owns these things has made me pregnant. Look at this seal and its cord and this walking stick. Tell me whose they are.”