Genesis 38:17

Judah said, “After you sleep with me, I will send you one of my young goats.” Tamar said, “All right. But first, you have to give me something that belongs to you, to show that you promised to send me a young goat.”

Plain English Version

In The King James Version

And he said, I will send thee a kid from the flock. And she said, Wilt thou give me a pledge, till thou send it?

In Context

18Judah said, “All right, I will give you something to show that I made that promise. What do you want me to give you?” Tamar said, “Give me that necklace with your special stamp on it, and your walking stick.” (Judah used that special stamp like a signature.) So Judah gave those things to Tamar. Then he slept with Tamar, like a man sleeps with his wife, and a baby started to grow inside her.

Read all of Genesis 38

Cross References

Genesis 38:243 months later, somebody said to Judah, “Your dead son’s wife Tamar, she did a bad thing. She slept with a man that isn’t her husband. And now there is a baby growing inside her.” Judah wanted to punish Tamar for doing that. So he said, “Go and get her. Put her on a fire, and burn her until she dies.”

Matthew Henry on Genesis 38:13-24

12 And in process of time the daughter of Shuah Judah's wife died; and Judah was comforted, and went up unto his sheepshearers to Timnath, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. 13 And it was told Tamar, saying, Behold thy father in law goeth up to Timnath to shear his sheep. 14 And she put her widow's garments off from her, 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 unto him to wife. 15 When… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Genesis 38:17