Genesis 38:12-23

12And in process of time the daughter of Shuah Judah’s wife died; and Judah was comforted, and went up to his sheepshearers to Timnath, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite.1 13And it was told to Tamar, saying, Behold thy father in law goeth up to Timnath to shear his sheep. 14And she put off from her, her widow’s garments, and covered her with a veil, and wrapped herself, and sat in an open place, which is by the way to Timnath; for she saw that Shelah was grown, and she was not given to him for a wife.2 15When Judah saw her, he thought her to be an harlot; because she had covered her face. 16And he turned to her by the way, and said, Come, I pray thee, let me come in to thee; (for he knew not that she was his daughter in law.) And she said, What wilt thou give me, that thou mayest come in to me? 17And he said, I will send thee a kid from the flock. And she said, Wilt thou give me a pledge, till thou sendest it ?3 18And he said, What pledge shall I give thee? And she said, Thy signet, and thy bracelets, and thy staff that is in thy hand. And he gave them to her, and came in to her, and she conceived by him. 19And she arose, and went her way, and laid by her veil from her, and put on the garments of her widowhood. 20And Judah sent the kid by the hand of his friend the Adullamite, to receive his pledge from the woman’s hand: but he found her not. 21Then he asked the men of that place, saying, Where is the harlot, that was openly by the way side? And they said, There was no harlot in this place .4 22And he returned to Judah, and said, I cannot find her; and also the men of the place said, that there was no harlot in this place . 23And Judah said, Let her take it to her, lest we be shamed: behold, I sent this kid, and thou hast not found her.5