Genesis 38:24

3 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.”

Plain English Version

In The King James Version

And it came to pass about three months after, that it was told Judah, saying, Tamar thy daughter in law hath played the harlot; and also, behold, she is with child by whoredom. And Judah said, Bring her forth, and let her be burnt.

In Context

23Then Judah said to Hirah, “All right, that woman can keep the necklace with my stamp on it, and my walking stick. I tried to keep my promise to that woman. Yes, I gave you a young goat to take to her. But you didn’t find her. If you go and look for her again, everybody will laugh at us. So she can just keep my things.”

25So some people went to Tamar’s house, and they started to take her to the place to burn her. But she said to them, “Take this necklace with a special stamp on it, and this walking stick, and show them to Judah, my dead husband’s father. Say to him, ‘The man that owns these things, he is the one that slept with me and made this baby grow inside me. So please look at this necklace with the special stamp on it, and this walking stick, and say who they belong to.’”

Read all of Genesis 38

Cross References

Genesis 20:3God was not happy that Abimelek was going to marry Sarah, so one night he gave Abimelek a dream, and in that dream, God told him, “You are going to die. You took Sarah to be your wife, but she is already married to Abraham.”

Genesis 20:9Then Abimelek sent somebody to get Abraham, and Abraham came to that meeting. Abimelek said to Abraham, “Look, you have made trouble for me and my people. What did I do to you, so that you paid me back with this trouble? You have done a bad thing to us.

2 Samuel 12:7Nathan said to David, “You are that rich man. This is a picture story from God, and it is about you. You took Uriah’s wife, just like that rich man took the poor man’s little sheep. You know that God picked you to be the big boss for the Israel mob. When Saul tried to kill you, God looked after you and saved you.

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 →

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Study Genesis 38:24