Genesis 38:15

Translations

Modern

When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute because she had covered her face.

Traditional

When Judah saw her, he thought her to be an harlot; because she had covered her face.

Literal

And Judah saw her, and he thought her for a prostitute, because she had covered her face.

Latin

Quam cum vidisset Judas, suspicatus est esse meretricem: operuerat enim vultum suum, ne agnosceretur.

Original

Hebrew

English

When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute because she had covered her face.

Notes

Genesis 38:14–19

Tamar understood she needed to act to secure her family's future. Following the levirate custom (see study note on 38:8), she remained loyal to her dead husband. She had a legal right to have a child with Judah's son or Judah himself. So she tricked her father-in-law into having sexual relations with her. Again, Jacob’s family experiences deception, this time by a Canaanite daughter-in-law.

Genesis 38:1–30

The story of Judah and Tamar is a carefully placed break in the larger story. It shows what was happening in Judah’s family. Judah would later become an important leader. The story also shows the early stages of the family mixing with the people of the land. This helps explain why God sent the family to Egypt (chapters 39–47).

The Egyptians kept themselves separate from other peoples (43:32). Because of that, the Israelites were more likely to keep their own identity in Egypt than in Canaan.

Theme notes and profiles

Egypt Judah Human Sexuality Symbolic Numbers