Jubilees 41:1-28

¹And in the forty-fifth jubilee, in the second week, in the second year, [2165 A.M.] Judah took for his firstborn Er a wife from the daughters of Aram, named Tamar.

²But he hated her and did not lie with her, because his mother was of the daughters of Canaan, and he wished to take for himself a wife from the kinsfolk of his mother; but Judah, his father, would not permit him. And this Er, the firstborn of Judah, was wicked, and the Lord killed him.

³And Judah said to Onan, his brother: 'Go in to your brother's wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her, and raise up seed to your brother.' And Onan knew that the seed would not be his, but his brother's only, and he went into the house of his brother's wife and spilled the seed on the ground, and he was wicked in the eyes of the Lord, and He killed him.

⁴And Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law: 'Remain in your father's house as a widow until Shelah my son is grown up, and I will give you to him as a wife.' And he grew up, but Bedsu'el, the wife of Judah, did not permit her son Shelah to marry.

⁵And Bedsu'el, the wife of Judah, died [2168 A.M.] in the fifth year of this week.

⁶And in the sixth year Judah went up to shear his sheep at Timnah. [2169 A.M.] And they told Tamar: 'Behold, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep.'

⁷And she took off her widow's clothes and put on a veil, and adorned herself, and sat in the gate adjoining the way to Timnah.

⁸And as Judah was going along, he found her and thought her to be a harlot, and he said to her: 'Let me come in to you'; and she said to him: 'Come in,' and he went in.

⁹And she said to him: 'Give me my hire'; and he said to her: 'I have nothing in my hand except my ring that is on my finger, and my necklace, and my staff which is in my hand.'

¹⁰And she said to him: 'Give them to me until you send me my hire'; and he said to her: 'I will send you a kid of the goats'; and he gave them to her, and he went in to her, and she conceived by him.

¹¹And Judah went to his sheep, and she went to her father's house.

¹²And Judah sent a kid of the goats by the hand of his shepherd, an Adullamite, and he did not find her; and he asked the people of the place, saying: 'Where is the harlot who was here?' And they said to him: 'There is no harlot here with us.'

¹³And he returned and informed him, and told him that he had not found her: 'I asked the people of the place, and they said to me: "There is no harlot here."' And he said: 'Let her keep them, lest we become a cause of derision.'

¹⁴And when she had completed three months, it was evident that she was with child, and they told Judah, saying: 'Behold, Tamar, your daughter-in-law, is with child by whoredom.'

¹⁵And Judah went to the house of her father, and said to her father and her brothers: 'Bring her forth, and let them burn her, for she has wrought uncleanness in Israel.'

¹⁶And it came to pass, when they brought her forth to burn her, that she sent to her father-in-law the ring and the necklace and the staff, saying: 'Discern whose these are, for by him I am with child.'

¹⁷And Judah acknowledged them, and said: 'Tamar is more righteous than I am. Therefore let them not burn her.'

¹⁸And for that reason she was not given to Shelah, and he did not approach her again.

¹⁹And after that she bore two sons, Perez [2170 A.M.] and Zerah, in the seventh year of this second week.

²⁰And thereupon the seven years of fruitfulness were completed, of which Joseph spoke to Pharaoh.

²¹And Judah acknowledged that the deed which he had done was evil, for he had lain with his daughter-in-law, and he regarded it as hateful in his eyes, and he acknowledged that he had transgressed and gone astray, for he had uncovered the skirt of his son, and he began to lament and to make supplication before the Lord because of his transgression.

²²And we told him in a dream that it was forgiven him because he supplicated earnestly, and lamented, and did not commit it again.

²³And he received forgiveness because he turned from his sin and from his ignorance, for he had transgressed greatly before our God; and every one who acts thus, every one who lies with his mother-in-law, let them burn him with fire that he may burn therein, for there is uncleanness and pollution upon them; with fire let them burn them.

²⁴And command the children of Israel that there be no uncleanness among them, for every one who lies with his daughter-in-law or with his mother-in-law has wrought uncleanness; with fire let them burn the man who has lain with her, and likewise the woman, and He will turn away wrath and punishment from Israel.

²⁵And to Judah we said that his two sons had not lain with her, and for this reason his seed was established for a second generation, and would not be rooted out.

²⁶For in singleness of eye he had gone and sought for punishment, namely, according to the judgment of Abraham, which he had commanded his sons; Judah had sought to burn her with fire.

²⁷And unto Judah we said that his two sons had not lain with her, and for this reason his seed was established for a second generation, and would not be rooted out.

²⁸For in singleness of eye he had gone and sought for punishment, namely, according to the judgment of Abraham, which he had commanded his sons; Judah had sought to burn her with fire.