Anan bible. What does the Bible say about contraception and birth control? Just a very disturbing story

To the earth, so as not to give seed to his brother” (Gen.), for which he deserved death punishment from the Lord.

The term “onanism” is derived from his name, which is mistakenly associated with the phenomenon of masturbation, while Onan, according to the Pentateuch, practiced coitus interruptus.

Despite the fact that the Bible nowhere calls masturbation a sin. , there are opinions of a number of Orthodox fathers that in the First Epistle to the Corinthians (1 Cor.), by the word “malakia,” the Apostle Paul meant precisely masturbation.

The term "masturbation"

Modern interpreters believe that this passage describes not masturbation, but coitus interruptus, and the sin is a violation of the law, according to which the brother-in-law was supposed to become the father of the child of the widowed daughter-in-law.

However, it was this text that at the beginning of the 18th century became the source of the name “masturbation”, which was introduced into use in 1716 in an anonymous brochure Onania, distributed in London and telling about the “terrible sin of “self-pollution”, entailing impotence, gonorrhea, epilepsy and waste of faculties,” as well as in the work of the Lausanne physician Tissot, published in 1760 L'Onanisme. Tissot was a pioneer in medical research on masturbation, substantiating, based on the then prevailing ideas in medical science, the harm of masturbation. He associated disorders such as impotence, blindness, mental and physical exhaustion with excessive sperm production. Involuntary emissions were also recognized as a disease. It should be noted that although already in those years works were published that spoke of the harmlessness of masturbation, including the work of D. Hunter (1786), the society in which the Puritan culture was accepted was accepted by Tissot’s theory, supported by such famous “rulers of thoughts” like Voltaire and Kant.

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Notes

Coogan Michael.. - 1st. - New York, Boston: Twelve. Hachette Book Group, 2010. - P. 110. - ISBN 978-0-446-54525-9.
// Sex in the Bible: a new consideration. - Westport, Conn.: Praeger Publishers, 2006. - P. 48. - ISBN 0-275-98767-1.
Church Father Epiphanius of Salamis agrees, citing // Contraception and abortion from the ancient world to the Renaissance. - Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1992. - P. 4. - ISBN 0-674-16875-5.
Patton, Michael S. (June 1985). "". Journal of Religion and Health(Springer Netherlands) 24 (2): 133–146. DOI:10.1007/BF01532257. ISSN. “Society's acceptance of masturbation at a professional level only occurred in the 1960s, and at a social level in the 1970s. ...masturbation and masturbation are mistakenly considered synonymous... ...there is no law in the Bible associated with masturbation. ”
Kwee, Alex W.; David C. Hoover (2008). "". Journal of Psychology and Theology(Rosemead School of Psychology. Biola University) 36 (4): 258–269. ISSN. “The Bible presents no clear theological ethic on masturbation, leaving many young unmarried Christians with confusion and guilt around their sexuality.”
Stolberg M. 2000a. Self-Pollution, Moral Reform, and the Venereal Trade: Notes on the Sources and Historical Context of "Onania" 1716 // Journal of the History of Sexuality. - 2000. - No. 9. P. 37-61.
Deryagin G. B., Sidorov P. I., Solovyov A. G. // Russian Psychiatric Journal. 2002. No. 2. P. 76-80.

Excerpt describing Onan

But the princess did not listen to him.
“Yes, I knew this for a long time, but I forgot that except baseness, deception, envy, intrigue, except ingratitude, the blackest ingratitude, I could expect nothing in this house...
– Do you know or don’t you know where this will is? - asked Prince Vasily with an even greater twitching of his cheeks than before.
– Yes, I was stupid, I still believed in people and loved them and sacrificed myself. And only those who are vile and nasty succeed. I know whose intrigue it is.
The princess wanted to get up, but the prince held her hand. The princess had the appearance of a person who had suddenly become disillusioned with the entire human race; she looked angrily at her interlocutor.
“There is still time, my friend.” You remember, Katisha, that all this happened by accident, in a moment of anger, illness, and then forgotten. Our duty, my dear, is to correct his mistake, to make his last moments easier by preventing him from committing this injustice, not letting him die in the thoughts that he made those people unhappy...
“Those people who sacrificed everything for him,” the princess picked up, trying to get up again, but the prince did not let her in, “which he never knew how to appreciate.” No, mon cousin,” she added with a sigh, “I will remember that in this world one cannot expect a reward, that in this world there is neither honor nor justice.” In this world you have to be cunning and evil.
- Well, voyons, [listen,] calm down; I know your beautiful heart.
- No, I have an evil heart.
“I know your heart,” the prince repeated, “I value your friendship and would like you to have the same opinion of me.” Calm down and parlons raison, [let's talk properly] while there is time - maybe a day, maybe an hour; tell me everything you know about the will, and, most importantly, where it is: you must know. We will now take it and show it to the count. He probably already forgot about it and wants to destroy it. You understand that my only desire is to sacredly fulfill his will; I just came here then. I'm only here to help him and you.
– Now I understand everything. I know whose intrigue it is. “I know,” said the princess.
- That’s not the point, my soul.
- This is your protegee, [favorite,] your dear princess Drubetskaya, Anna Mikhailovna, whom I would not want to have as a maid, this vile, disgusting woman.
– Ne perdons point de temps. [Let's not waste time.]
- Ax, don't talk! Last winter she infiltrated here and said such nasty things, such nasty things to the Count about all of us, especially Sophie - I cannot repeat it - that the Count became ill and did not want to see us for two weeks. At this time, I know that he wrote this vile, vile paper; but I thought that this paper meant nothing.
– Nous y voila, [That’s the point.] why didn’t you tell me anything before?
– In the mosaic briefcase that he keeps under his pillow. “Now I know,” said the princess without answering. “Yes, if there is a sin behind me, a great sin, then it is hatred of this scoundrel,” the princess almost shouted, completely changed. - And why is she rubbing herself in here? But I will tell her everything, everything. The time will come!

While such conversations took place in the reception room and in the princess's rooms, the carriage with Pierre (who was sent for) and with Anna Mikhailovna (who found it necessary to go with him) drove into the courtyard of Count Bezukhy. When the wheels of the carriage sounded softly on the straw spread under the windows, Anna Mikhailovna, turning to her companion with comforting words, was convinced that he was sleeping in the corner of the carriage, and woke him up. Having woken up, Pierre followed Anna Mikhailovna out of the carriage and then only thought about the meeting with his dying father that awaited him. He noticed that they drove up not to the front entrance, but to the back entrance. While he was getting off the step, two people in bourgeois clothes hurriedly ran away from the entrance into the shadow of the wall. Pausing, Pierre saw several more similar people in the shadows of the house on both sides. But neither Anna Mikhailovna, nor the footman, nor the coachman, who could not help but see these people, paid no attention to them. Therefore, this is so necessary, Pierre decided to himself and followed Anna Mikhailovna. Anna Mikhailovna walked with hasty steps up the dimly lit narrow stone staircase, calling Pierre, who was lagging behind her, who, although he did not understand why he had to go to the count at all, and even less why he had to go up the back stairs, but , judging by the confidence and haste of Anna Mikhailovna, he decided to himself that this was necessary. Halfway up the stairs, they were almost knocked down by some people with buckets, who, clattering with their boots, ran towards them. These people pressed against the wall to let Pierre and Anna Mikhailovna through, and did not show the slightest surprise at the sight of them.
– Are there half princesses here? – Anna Mikhailovna asked one of them...
“Here,” the footman answered in a bold, loud voice, as if now everything was possible, “the door is on the left, mother.”
“Maybe the count didn’t call me,” Pierre said as he walked out onto the platform, “I would have gone to my place.”
Anna Mikhailovna stopped to catch up with Pierre.
- Ah, mon ami! - she said with the same gesture as in the morning with her son, touching his hand: - croyez, que je souffre autant, que vous, mais soyez homme. [Believe me, I suffer no less than you, but be a man.]
- Right, I'll go? - asked Pierre, looking affectionately through his glasses at Anna Mikhailovna.
- Ah, mon ami, oubliez les torts qu"on a pu avoir envers vous, pensez que c"est votre pere... peut etre a l"agonie. - She sighed. - Je vous ai tout de suite aime comme mon fils. Fiez vous a moi, Pierre. Je n"oublirai pas vos interets. [Forget, my friend, what was wronged against you. Remember that this is your father... Maybe in agony. I immediately loved you like a son. Trust me, Pierre. I will not forget your interests.]

. At that time Judah departed from his brothers and settled near an Adollamite whose name was Hirah.

And Judah saw there the daughter of a certain Canaanite, whose name was Shua; and he took her and went in to her.

An episode from the life of Judas, the story of which is in Chapter 38. interrupts the story about Joseph, stands with this story not only in a temporal connection (“at that time”), but also in an internal logical one: the offspring of the pure, chaste Joseph, in the person of the strong tribe of Ephraim, subsequently became the head of the northern (Israel) kingdom; the descendants of Judah formed the main mass of the kingdom of the south (Judea) and, at the end of times, gave from their midst the Messiah, who did not disdain to be born from the tribe of Judas the incestuous; according to the Midrash, before the enslaver (Pharaoh) was born, the last liberator (Messiah from the tribe of Judah) was born.

According to Jewish commentators, Judas left his brothers as a result of the sale of Joseph, tormented by his conscience for the advice given, albeit well-intentioned. Regarding the time when everything told in ch. 38, Aben-Ezra, Rosenmuller and others believed that not all of these incidents took place after the sale of Joseph - in the 23-year period from this event to the resettlement of Jacob to Egypt, since during this period Judah could hardly have had 3 sons from his first wife, be a widower “for a long time” (v. 12), then give birth to Perez and Zara, and finally have grandchildren from the first: Esrom and Hamul (). Judah from Hebron - the last residence of Jacob - and settled in the area (west of Hebron) Adullam, in the Saphala valley (later, near the city that arose here there was a cave that gave shelter to David, ; cf. ; ). The Adollamite Hirah here became a friend of Judah (v. 12). Here Judah married the daughter of a Canaanite, Shua. The Jews, following the initiative of the Targum Onkelos, understand the word kenaani (v. 2) in the common sense: a merchant (as in), but in clear contradiction with the context, out of a tendency to reject the event that confused them, in view of the marriage of their patriarch with a Canaanite woman. Shua is the name of the father of Judah’s wife, and not of herself (as understood in the LXX, in Syriac, Slavic), as the masculine suffix with the word schem (name) shows.

. She conceived and gave birth to a son; and he called his name Ir.

And she conceived again, and gave birth to a son, and called his name Onan.

And she gave birth to a [third] son and called his name Shelah. Judah was in Chezibah when she gave birth to him.

The marriage of Judah with a Canaanite woman, apparently, was not happy: the unnatural vices that had long characterized the Canaanites penetrated into the family of Judah, which, according to the judgment of God, caused the early death of the first two sons of Judah: Ira (from Hebrew - “fear”) and Onan (from Hebrew - “strength”). When mentioning the birth of the 3rd son of Shelah, the place where he was born is named - Kezib, Kheziv (maybe Achziv), a city near Adollam (;); from this only the son had offspring. vulg. the name kezib conveys descriptively: “parere ultra cessavit.”

Tamar and her two sons

. And Judah took a wife for Ira, his firstborn; her name is Tamar.

Er, the firstborn of Judah, was disgraceful in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord put him to death.

And Judah said to Onan: Go in to your brother's wife, marry her as a brother-in-law, and restore seed to your brother.

Onan knew that the seed would not be his, and therefore, when he went in to his brother’s wife, he poured out [semen] on the ground, so as not to give seed to his brother.

What he did was evil in the sight of the Lord; and He slew him also.

Judah marries his first-born Er (apparently at an early age) to Tamar (“palm tree”: Tamar’s origin is not indicated - perhaps from the Philistines), but his early childless death, perhaps sudden, was evidence of his displeasure God (cf.).

Judas, based on the ancient, later deliberately regulated in the Law of Moses (), custom of the so-called. levirate marriage (Latin levir = Heb. jabam, brother-in-law), i.e. marriage of a childless widow with her brother-in-law or other closest blood relative to restore offspring to her deceased husband, whose name was given to the first-born from this new marriage (the custom of levirate, with some modifications, also existed among the Egyptians and Indians; now found among the Mongolian tribes), - gives the widow Tamar to his second son Onan. But the latter branded himself with a vile sin, which henceforth received his name (masturbation); The severity of his sin was increased by his low ill-will towards the memory of his brother, whose name only the first son was to receive, and by his selfish calculation - to inherit his brother’s inheritance himself. God's punishment befell him too.

. And Judah said to Tamar his daughter-in-law [after the death of his two sons], “Live as a widow in your father’s house until Shelah my son grows up.” For he said [in his mind]: He would not have died like his brothers. Tamar went and lived in her father's house.

Although it is possible that Shelah had indeed not yet reached marriageable age, the real reason for Judah’s order to remove Tamar to her father’s house as a widow was Judah’s superstitious fear and view of Tamar as a woman who would bring death to anyone who marries her. (cf.), (according to later Jewish custom, a woman whose 2 husbands had already died, strictly speaking, lost the right to a 3rd marriage). By stalling for time with the promise to marry Tamar to Shelah, Judah was actually dooming her to eternal widowhood (v. 14), thereby causing her injustice, which he later confessed to (v. 26). Then Tamar, by cunning, achieves what was not given to her through legal means (vv. 14–26).

. Much time passed, and the daughter of Shuya, the wife of Judah, died. Judah, having been consoled, went to Timna to the shearers of his cattle, himself and Hirah his friend the Adollamite.

The term “many days” according to Midrash is equal to 2 months. The mention of the death of his wife has a direct connection with the subsequent speech about the adventure of Judas (vv. 16-17), which could not have taken place in a married man. According to the usual mourning, Judah goes with his friend (according to LXX and Vulg., Wed. Slav. - a shepherd: confusion of Hebrew rea, friend, with roeh, shepherd) with his Hiroah to Timna (on the north-west border of the tribe of Judah, ) on feast of sheep shearing (cf. ; ; ).

. And they told Tamar, saying, Behold, thy father-in-law is going to Timnah to shear his cattle.

And she took off the garment of her widowhood, covered herself with a veil, and, covering herself, sat down at the gate of Enaim, which is on the road to Timna. For she saw that Shelah had grown up, and she was not given to him as a wife.

And Judas saw her and considered her a harlot, because she had covered her face.

Having learned about this, “Tamar decided by deception to share a bed with her father-in-law and give birth to children from him, not for the sake of carnal lust, but in order not to be left without a name. However, in this matter there was also God’s providence, which is why her intention was actually fulfilled” (John Chrysostom, Bes. 62, 662). With all this, Scripture does not praise or even justify Tamar’s act (not without her self-sacrifice at the risk of honor and life). The place where Tamar sat waiting for Judah is called in v. 14 and 21 Enaim, that Targ., Midrash, many Jewish commentators and Vulg:. (“in bivio itineris”) is understood in the sense of a common noun: “2 sources”, “2 roads”, etc.; but the transmission of LXX is more likely " πρὸς ταῖς πόλαις Αιναν “- Enaim or Genan will then be the name of a city in the tribe of Judah (), between Adollam and Timna. Here, like harlots, who usually went out into the streets and crowded roads (;), Tamar sits down by the road (perhaps at the crossroads of 2 roads, as the dual f. Enaim and the remark of v. 16: “turned towards her” may indicate) ), prudently covering her face with a veil so as not to be recognized. This covering of the face, however, was not a sign that the woman belonged to the class of harlots (Rebekah, at the first meeting with Isaac, is also covered with a veil), and it was not because Judah (v. 15) mistook Tamar for a prostitute, but rather because of Tamar’s location in a public place and according to another situation, which prompted Judah to see in Tamar something like the servant of Astarte or the Babylonian Melitta - qedeschah (v. 21); Herodotus speaks about the cult of this family among the Babylonians (2 books, 199).

. He said: what pledge should I give you? She said, “Your seal, and your bandage, and your reed, which is in your hand.” And he gave it to her and went in to her; and she conceived from him.

As a guarantee of future payment, Tamar demands from Judah those things, the undoubted ownership of which Judah later had to prove the paternity of Judah in relation to the 2 sons of Tamar: a ring, a baldric (skins) and a cane - all this was a common property among the Babylonians (Herodotus 1 bk. , 195), and from there it passed to Canaan. At the same time, on the ring, as well as on the canes, various emblems of their owner were probably cut out very early (the emblem or coat of arms of the tribe of Judah was a lion, Dan’s was a serpent, Issachar’s was a donkey, Veniamin’s was a wolf,).

. And he asked the inhabitants of the place, saying: Where is the harlot? Which was in Yenaim on the road? But they said: there was no harlot here.

The name qedeschah, dedicated (i.e. to the goddess of debauchery), when applied to a harlot, clearly indicates the Babylonian cult of Melitta or Belitta, or the Canaanite Astarte, and in both cults the wages of harlots were brought into the treasury of the goddess, which was strictly and unconditionally forbidden to the Jews in .

. Judas said: let her take it for herself, so that they don’t laugh at us; Behold, I sent this kid, but you did not find her.

Judah refuses further searches for the imaginary “qedesh” (qedeschah) out of fear that the desire to settle accounts with the woman by agreement (who, however, has already received more valuable things in comparison with the kid) will not lead to ridicule of him: fact, - together with some other features noted in this story - testifying to a fairly high development of moral sense in Jacob's family, despite all the presence of phenomena that are disgusting to him.

. About three months passed, and they told Judah, saying, Tamar thy daughter-in-law has fallen into fornication, and behold, she is with child through fornication. Judas said: Bring her out and let her be burned.

Just as Judah’s (sole) sentence over his daughter-in-law (betrothed Sheleh) on suspicion of fornication characterizes the patriarchal way of life - in contrast to the restrictions on parental authority in the law of Moses (), so the type of punishment - burning - indicates the pre-legal, patriarchal stage of Jewish criminal law; Perhaps this execution was borrowed by Judas from the neighboring Philistines (the Philistines burned Samson’s wife for betraying her husband).

Meanwhile, according to the Law of Moses, the adulterer was stoned (

When Judah so decisively (like his descendant David - in the case of Bathsheba) () pronounced the death sentence on Tamar, although he himself was guilty of insincerity in arranging the marriage of Tamar with Shelah, then Tamar takes out, obviously, the things of Judah that had been carefully kept by her and sends them to him, delicately, without mentioning his name, recalling the incident (v. 18). The Talmud and Midrash, praising Tamar’s care for her father-in-law’s good name, when she herself was threatened with death, teach the moral that it is better to die than to disgrace one’s neighbor. From the expression “when they led her,” the Midrash concludes that the things mentioned were already lost, but God miraculously gave her other similar ones (Beresch. r. Par. 85.s. 421–422).

. Judah found out and said: She is more right than me, because I did not give her to Shelah my son. And I didn’t know her anymore.

Tamar’s modest reminder awakens reproaches of conscience in Judah, and he (by inspiration from above, says the Midrash) openly and publicly admits his guilt before Tamar and the ownership of her future children; in addition, an awakened moral feeling (in connection with the so-called honor naturalis) forces him to refuse further cohabitation with his daughter-in-law.

. During her birth, it turned out that she had twins in her womb.

And while she was in labor, the hand of [one] appeared; and the midwife took it and tied a red thread on his hand, saying, “This one came out first.”

But he returned his hand; and behold, his brother came out. And she said: how did you dissolve your barrier? And his name was called Perez.

Then his brother came out with a red thread on his hand. And his name was called Zara.

These verses form an epilogue to the story of Tamar - the story of the birth of her twins, reminiscent in some features of the story () of the birth of Esau and Jacob: Zara (from the Hebrew "rising"), who, according to human considerations, had to be the firstborn and receive all the benefits primogeniture, had to cede both the primacy of birth and all the rights of primogeniture to his brother Perez (Heb. Pepper - a gap, as if contrary to nature), who, one of the 5 sons of Judah, formed the main line of descendants of Judah, and it was through him that he came from the tribe of Judah David, and at the end of time - Christ the Savior (; ; ; ).

aѵnan Mother Shuya's daughter[d]

After the death of Judah's eldest son, Onan, according to the levirate tradition, was obliged to marry his widow Tamar so that she could bring an heir who would be considered the firstborn of the eldest son. Onan " When he went in to his brother's wife, he poured out his seed on the ground, so as not to give seed to his brother"(Gen.), for which he deserved death punishment from the Lord.

The term “onanism” is derived from his name, which is mistakenly associated with the phenomenon of masturbation, while Onan, according to the Pentateuch, practiced coitus interruptus.

The Bible nowhere calls masturbation a sin. , although there is an opinion of a number of Orthodox fathers that in the First Epistle to the Corinthians (1 Cor.), by the word “malakia,” the Apostle Paul meant precisely masturbation.

The term "masturbation"

Notes

Masturbation. - Oxford Dictionary of Psychology
Coogan, Michael. God and Sex. What the Bible Really Says. - 1st. - New York, Boston: Twelve. Hachette Book Group, 2010. - P. 110. - “Although Onan gives his name to “onanism,” usually a synonym for masturbation, Onan was not masturbating but practicing coitus interruptus.” - ISBN 978-0-446-54525-9.
Ellens, J. Harold.// Sex in the Bible: a new consideration. - Westport, Conn. : Praeger Publishers, 2006. - P. 48. - “He practiced coitus interruptus whenever he made love to Tamar.” - ISBN 0-275-98767-1.
Church Father Epiphanius of Salamis agrees, citing Riddle, John M.// Contraception and abortion from the ancient world to the Renaissance. - Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 1992. - P. 4. - “Epiphanius (fourth century) construed the sin of Onan as coitus interruptus. 14 ". - ISBN 0-674-16875-5.
Patton, Michael S. (June 1985). “Masturbation from Judaism to Victorianism”. Journal of Religion and Health. Springer Netherlands. 24 (2): 133-146. DOI:10.1007/BF01532257. ISSN 0022-4197. Society's acceptance of masturbation at a professional level only occurred in the 1960s, and at a societal level in the 1970s. ...masturbation and masturbation are mistakenly considered synonymous... ...there is no law in the Bible related to masturbation. Uses deprecated |month= (

Answered by Vasily Yunak, 06/11/2007

3.296. Mr.X X (men_x_x@???.ru) writes: “The question concerns the sin committed by Onan and included in our concept of masturbation. How should a Christian, from the biblical point of view, relate to this and do this story and this concept have a connection?”

Good afternoon, Mister X! In fact, the biblical Onan did not engage in masturbation at all. At least that's not what the Bible says. What Onan did is called coitus interruptus in modern language. Onan's sin lay not in the act he committed, but in relation to his duty to restore the seed of his dead brother. Genealogical records were very important in ancient Israel, and to ensure that no one's family line was broken, there was a law recorded in Deuteronomy 25:5-10. The Saducees also referred to it when asking a question to Jesus Christ (and further). This law was among the Jews even before Moses, which is why we find it in the story of Onan, as described in. Thus, Onan denied his dead brother the restoration of his family - this was his sin.

Today it is difficult to say why masturbation is called masturbation. Most likely, someone at some point misunderstood Onan's story. But you ask the question, how should a Christian approach this? Today, scientists and doctors argue over whether masturbation is harmful to human health or not. I have my own definite opinion that masturbation has a destructive effect on the human body. But I have no desire or authority to enter into any controversy on this topic, while many luminaries of science, medicine and theology are still arguing on this issue. The Bible doesn't specifically talk about this either (except perhaps). But nevertheless, we have a very important text that keeps us from doing this: “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought with a price.” at a price. Therefore glorify God both in your bodies and in your souls, which are God's" (). From this text it follows that a Christian cannot do with his body what he would not do in the Temple of God. I think that this text is enough to exclude masturbation (or masturbation) from the life of a Christian.

Read more on the topic “Sex, erotica and intimacy”:

At that time Judah departed from his brothers and settled near an Adollamite whose name was Hirah.And Judah saw there the daughter of a certain Canaanite, whose name was Shua; and he took her and went in to her.She conceived and gave birth to a son; and he called his name Ir.And she conceived again, and gave birth to a son, and called his name Onan.And she gave birth to a son and called his name Shelah. Judah was in Chezibah when she gave birth to him.

And Judah took a wife for Ira, his firstborn; her name is Tamar.Er, the firstborn of Judah, was disgraceful in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord put him to death.And Judah said to Onan: Go in to your brother's wife, marry her as a brother-in-law, and restore seed to your brother.Onan knew that the seed would not be his, and therefore, when he went in to his brother's wife, he poured out seed to the ground, so as not to give seed to his brother.What he did was evil in the sight of the Lord; and He slew him also.And Judah said to Tamar his daughter-in-law, “Live as a widow in your father’s house until Shelah my son grows up.” For he said, “Even he, like his brothers, would not have died.” Tamar went and lived in her father's house.

Much time passed, and the daughter of Shuya, the wife of Judah, died. Judah, having been consoled, went to Timna to the shearers of his cattle, himself and Hirah his friend the Adollamite.And they told Tamar, saying, Behold, thy father-in-law is going to Timnah to shear his cattle.And she took off the garment of her widowhood, covered herself with a veil, and, covering herself, sat down at the gate of Enaim, which is on the road to Timna. For she saw that Shelah had grown up, and she was not given to him as a wife.

And Judas saw her and considered her a harlot, because she had covered her face.He turned to her and said: I will come in to you. For he did not know that this was his daughter-in-law.

She said: what will you give me if you come in to me?

He said: I will send you a kid from the herd.

She said: Will you give me a deposit while you send it?

He said: what pledge should I give you?

She said, “Your seal, and your bandage, and your reed, which is in your hand.” And he gave it to her and went in to her; and she conceived from him.And she got up and went and took off her veil and put on the clothing of her widowhood.

Judah sent a kid through his friend the Adollamite to take the pledge from the woman’s hand, but he did not find her.And he asked the inhabitants of the place, saying: Where is the harlot? Which was in Yenaim on the road?

But they said: there was no harlot here.

And he returned to Judah and said: I have not found her; and the inhabitants of that place said: “There was no harlot here.”

Judas said: let her take it for herself, so that they don’t laugh at us; Behold, I sent this kid, but you did not find her.

About three months passed, and they told Judah, saying, Tamar thy daughter-in-law has fallen into fornication, and behold, she is with child through fornication.

Judas said: Bring her out and let her be burned.

But when they took her away, she sent to tell her father-in-law: I am pregnant from the one whose things these are. And she said: Find out whose seal this is, and the baldric and the cane.

Judah found out and said: She is more right than me, because I did not give her to Shelah my son. And I didn’t know her anymore.

During her birth, it turned out that she had twins in her womb.And during childbirth her hand appeared one; and the midwife took it and tied a red thread on his hand, saying, “This one came out first.”But he returned his hand; and behold, his brother came out. And she said: how did you dissolve your barrier? And his name was called Perez.Then his brother came out with a red thread on his hand. And his name was called Zara.