1 Il arriva qu'en ce temps-là Juda descendit d'auprès de ses frères, et se retira vers un homme Hadullamite, qui avait nom Hira.
2 Et Juda y vit la fille d'un Cananéen, nommé Suah, et il la prit, et vint vers elle.
3 Et elle conçut et enfanta un fils, et on le nomma Her.
4 Et elle conçut encore et enfanta un fils, et elle le nomma Onan.
5 Elle enfanta encore un fils, et elle le nomma Séla. Et [Juda] était en Késib quand elle accoucha de celui-ci.
6 Et Juda maria Her, son premier-né, avec une fille qui avait nom Tamar.
7 Mais Her le premier-né de Juda était méchant devant l'Eternel, et l'Eternel le fit mourir.
8 Alors Juda dit à Onan : Viens vers la femme de ton frère, et prends-la pour femme, [comme étant son beau-frère], et suscite des enfants à ton frère.
9 Mais Onan sachant que les enfants ne seraient pas à lui, se corrompait contre terre toutes les fois qu'il venait vers la femme de son frère, afin qu'il ne donnât pas des enfants à son frère.
10 Et ce qu'il faisait déplut à l'Eternel, c'est pourquoi il le fit aussi mourir.
11 Et Juda dit à Tamar sa belle-fille : Demeure veuve en la maison de ton père, jusqu'à ce que Séla mon fils soit grand; car il dit : Il faut prendre garde qu'il ne meure comme ses frères. Ainsi Tamar s'en alla, et demeura en la maison de son père.
12 Et après plusieurs jours la fille de Suah, femme de Juda, mourut; et Juda, s'étant consolé, monta vers les tondeurs de ses brebis à Timnath, avec Hira Hadullamite, son intime ami.
13 Et on fit savoir à Tamar, et on lui dit : Voici, ton beau-père monte à Timnath, pour tondre ses brebis.
14 Et elle ôta de dessus soi les habits de son veuvage, et se couvrit d'un voile, et s'en enveloppa, et s'assit en un carrefour qui [était] sur le chemin tirant vers Timnath; parce qu'elle voyait que Séla était devenu grand, et qu'elle ne lui avait point été donnée pour femme.
15 Et quand Juda la vit, il s'imagina que c'était une prostituée; car elle avait couvert son visage.
16 Et il se détourna vers elle au chemin, et lui dit : Permets, je te prie, que je vienne vers toi; car il ne savait pas que ce [fût] sa belle-fille. Et elle répondit : Que me donneras-tu afin que tu viennes vers moi?
17 Et il dit : Je t'enverrai un chevreau d'entre les chèvres du troupeau. Et elle répondit : Me donneras-tu des gages, jusqu'à ce que tu l'envoies?
18 Et il dit : Quel gage est-ce que je te donnerai? Et elle répondit : Ton cachet, ton mouchoir, et ton bâton que tu as en ta main. Et il les lui donna; et il vint vers elle, et elle conçut de lui.
19 Puis elle se leva et s'en alla, et ayant quitté son voile elle reprit les habits de son veuvage.
20 Et Juda envoya un chevreau d'entre les chèvres par l'Hadullamite son intime ami; afin qu'il reprît le gage de la main de la femme; mais il ne la trouva point.
21 Et il interrogea les hommes du lieu où elle avait été, en disant : Où [est] cette prostituée qui [était] dans le carrefour sur le chemin? Et ils répondirent : Il n'y a point eu ici de prostituée.
22 Et il retourna à Juda, et lui dit : Je ne l'ai point trouvée; et même les gens du lieu m'ont dit : Il n'y a point eu ici de prostituée.
23 Et Juda dit : Qu'elle garde le [gage], de peur que nous ne soyons en mépris. Voici, j'ai envoyé ce chevreau, mais tu ne l'as point trouvée.
24 Or il arriva qu'environ trois mois [après] on fit un rapport à Juda, en disant : Tamar ta belle-fille a commis un adultère, et voici elle est même enceinte. Et Juda dit : Faites-la sortir, et qu'elle soit brûlée.
25 Et comme on la faisait sortir, elle envoya dire à son beau-père : Je suis enceinte de l'homme à qui ces choses appartiennent. Elle dit aussi : Reconnais, je te prie, à qui [est] ce cachet, ce mouchoir, et ce bâton.
26 Alors Juda les reconnut, et il dit : Elle est plus juste que moi; parce que je ne l'ai point donnée à Séla, mon fils; et il ne la connut plus.
27 Et comme elle fut sur le point d'accoucher, voici, deux jumeaux étaient dans son ventre;
28 Et dans le temps qu'elle enfantait, [l'un d'eux] donna la main, et la sage-femme la prit, et lia sur sa main un fil d'écarlate, en disant : Celui-ci sort le premier.
29 Mais comme il eut retiré sa main, voici, son frère sortit; et elle dit : Quelle ouverture t'es-tu faite! L'ouverture soit sur toi; et on le nomma Pharez.
30 Ensuite son frère sortit, ayant sur sa main le fil d'écarlate, et on le nomma Zara.
1 Now at that time, Judah went away from his brothers and became the friend of a man of Adullam named Hirah.
2 And there he saw the daughter of a certain man of Canaan named Shua, and took her as his wife.
3 And she gave birth to a son, and he gave him the name Er.
4 And again she gave birth to a son, and he gave him the name Onan.
5 Then she had another son, to whom she gave the name Shelah; she was at Chezib when the birth took place.
6 And Judah took a wife for his first son Er, and her name was Tamar.
7 Now Er, Judah's first son, did evil in the eyes of the Lord, so that he put him to death.
8 Then Judah said to Onan, Go in to your brother's wife and do what it is right for a husband's brother to do; make her your wife and get offspring for your brother.
9 But Onan, seeing that the offspring would not be his, went in to his brother's wife, but let his seed go on to the earth, so that he might not get offspring for his brother.
10 And what he did was evil in the eyes of the Lord, so that he put him to death, like his brother.
11 Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, Go back to your father's house and keep yourself as a widow till my son Shelah becomes a man: for he had in his mind the thought that death might come to him as it had come to his brothers. So Tamar went back to her father's house.
12 And after a time, Bath-shua, Judah's wife, came to her end; and after Judah was comforted for her loss, he went to Timnah, where they were cutting the wool of his sheep, and his friend Hirah of Adullam went with him.
13 And when Tamar had news that her father-in-law was going up to Timnah to the wool-cutting,
14 She took off her widow's clothing, and covering herself with her veil, she took her seat near Enaim on the road to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah was now a man, but she had not been made his wife.
15 When Judah saw her he took her to be a loose woman of the town, because her face was covered.
16 And turning to her by the roadside, he said to her, Let me come in to you; for he had no idea that she was his daughter-in-law. And she said, What will you give me as my price?
17 And he said, I will give you a young goat from the flock. And she said, What will you give me as a sign till you send it?
18 And he said, What would you have? And she said, Your ring and its cord and the stick in your hand. So he gave them to her and went in to her, and she became with child by him.
19 Then she got up and went away and took off her veil and put on her widow's clothing.
20 Then Judah sent his friend Hirah with the young goat, to get back the things which he had given as a sign to the woman: but she was not there.
21 And he put questions to the men of the place, saying, Where is the loose woman who was in Enaim by the wayside? And they said, There was no such woman there.
22 So he went back to Judah, and said, I have not seen her, and the men of the place say that there is no such woman there.
23 And Judah said, Let her keep the things, so that we may not be shamed; I sent the young goat, but you did not see the woman.
24 Now about three months after this, word came to Judah that Tamar, his daughter-in-law, had been acting like a loose woman and was with child. And Judah said, Take her out and let her be burned.
25 And while she was being taken out, she sent word to her father-in-law, saying, The man whose property these things are, is the father of my child: say then, whose are this ring and this cord and this stick?
26 Then Judah said openly that they were his, and said, She is more upright than I am, for I did not give her to Shelah my son. And he had no more connection with her.
27 And when the time came for her to give birth, it was clear that there were two children in her body.
28 And while she was in the act of giving birth, one of them put out his hand; and the woman who was with her put a red thread round his hand, saying, This one came out first.
29 But then he took his hand back again, and his brother came first to birth: and the woman said, What an opening you have made for yourself! So he was named Perez.
30 And then his brother came out, with the red thread round his hand, and he was named Zerah.