Genesis 38:26

So they took those things to Judah, and they told him what Tamar said. And Judah looked at those things, and he knew that they belonged to him. Then Judah knew that Tamar tricked him, and he felt shame. He said, “You know, I did the wrong thing. I didn’t let Tamar marry my son Shelah. But Tamar is better than me. She wanted to have kids that will belong to her dead husband, just like our culture says. That’s the reason why she got me to sleep with her.” So Judah didn’t punish Tamar, and he never slept with her again.

Plain English Version

In The King James Version

And Judah acknowledged them, and said, She hath been more righteous than I; because that I gave her not to Shelah my son. And he knew her again no more.

In Context

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.’”

27Later on, the time came for Tamar to have her baby. At that time, Tamar found out that she had 2 babies inside her.

Read all of Genesis 38

Cross References

Genesis 4:1Adam and Eve slept together, like a man does with his wife, and then Eve had a baby boy. Eve said, “God has helped me make another human.” So she gave him the name Cain. That name means make.

Genesis 38:14Tamar thought about Judah’s son Shelah. She knew that he was grown up now, but Judah still didn’t let her marry him. So Tamar thought, “I will trick Judah and get him to sleep with me, like a man sleeps with his wife, so that I can have kids. Then those kids will belong to my dead husband Er.” At that time, Tamar was wearing the sort of clothes that widows wear. But then, Tamar changed those clothes, and she put on some pretty clothes, and she put a scarf over her head, to cover her face. Then she went and sat outside the town called Enayim. That town is on the road that goes to Timnah.

1 Samuel 24:18And now you have just told me that you feel sorry for me. God brought us together in the cave, but still you did not kill me.

Matthew Henry on Genesis 38:25-30

Birth of Phares and Zarah. ( b. c. 1714.) 24 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. 25 When she was brought forth, she sent to her father in law, saying, By the man, whose these are, am I with child: and she said, Discern, I pray thee, whose are these, the signet, and bracelets, and staff. 26 And Judah acknowledged them, and… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Genesis 38:26