38:1 那时犹大离开自己的兄弟，下到一个名叫希辣的阿杜蓝人那里住下了。
About that time Judah parted from his brothers and pitched his tent near a certain Adullamite named Hirah. 38:2 犹大在那里看见了一个名叫叔亚的客纳罕人的女儿，就娶了她，亲近了她。
There he met the daughter of a Canaanite named Shua, married her, and had relations with her. 38:3 她遂怀孕，生了一个儿子，给他起名叫厄尔。
She conceived and bore a son, whom she named Er. 38:4 她又怀孕，生了一个儿子，给他起名叫敖难。
Again she conceived and bore a son, whom she named Onan. 38:5 以后她又生了一个儿子，给他起名叫舍拉；生他的时候，犹大正在革齐布。
Then she bore still another son, whom she named Shelah. They were in Chezib when he was born. 38:6 犹大给自己的长子厄尔娶了妻子，名叫塔玛尔。
Judah got a wife named Tamar for his first-born, Er. 38:7 犹大的长子厄尔行了上主所厌恶的事，上主就叫他死了。
But Er, Judah’s first-born, greatly offended the LORD; so the LORD took his life. 38:8 于是犹大对敖难说：「你去与你哥哥的妻子亲近，与她尽你为弟弟的义务，给你哥哥立后。」
Then Judah said to Onan, "Unite with your brother’s widow, in fulfillment of your duty as brother-in-law, and thus preserve your brother’s line." 38:9 敖难明知后裔不归自己，所以当他与哥哥的妻子结合时，便将精液遗泄于地，免得给自己的哥哥立后。
Onan, however, knew that the descendants would not be counted as his; so whenever he had relations with his brother’s widow, he wasted his seed on the ground, to avoid contributing offspring for his brother. 38:10 他作这事，为上主所厌恶，上主就叫他死了。
What he did greatly offended the LORD, and the LORD took his life too. 38:11 犹大于是对儿媳塔玛尔说：「你回到你父亲家中去守寡，直到我儿子舍拉长大成人。」因为他心里想：「恐怕他也如同他哥哥们一样死去。」塔玛尔就回去，住在自己父亲的家里。
Thereupon Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, "Stay as a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah grows up" ?for he feared that Shelah also might die like his brothers. So Tamar went to live in her father’s house. 38:12 过了几年，犹大的妻子叔亚的女儿死了。丧期过后，犹大便同自己的朋友阿杜蓝人希辣，上提默纳黑去剪羊毛。
Years passed, and Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. After Judah completed the period of mourning, he went up to Timnah for the shearing of his sheep, in company with his friend Hirah the Adullamite. 38:13 有人告诉塔玛尔说:「你公公现正上提默纳黑去剪羊毛。」
When Tamar was told that her father-in-law was on his way up to Timnah to shear his sheep, 38:14 塔玛尔遂脱去守寡的衣服，蒙上首帕，遮掩自己，坐在通往提默纳黑大道去厄纳殷的路口上；－－原来她见舍拉已经长大，还没有娶她为妻。－－
she took off her widow’s garb, veiled her face by covering herself with a shawl, and sat down at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the way to Timnah; for she was aware that, although Shelah was now grown up, she had not been given to him in marriage. 38:15 犹大一看见她，以为她是个妓女，因为她遮盖了自己的脸。
When Judah saw her, he mistook her for a harlot, since she had covered her face. 38:16 犹大便由路上转到她面前，向她说：「来!让我与你亲近!」他并不知她就是自己的儿媳。她答说：「你给我什么，好与我亲近﹖」
So he went over to her at the roadside, and not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, he said, "Come, let me have intercourse with you." She replied, "What will you pay me for letting you have intercourse with me?" 38:17 犹大答说：「由羊群中取一只小公山羊送给你。」塔玛尔说：「你未送来以前，你应给个抵押。」
He answered, "I will send you a kid from the flock." "Very well," she said, "provided you leave a pledge until you send it." 38:18 犹大问说：「我该给你什么作抵押﹖」她答说：「你的印章，你的系印带和你手中的棍杖。」犹大便交给了她，与她亲近了；她于是由他怀了孕。
Judah asked, "What pledge am I to give to you?" She answered, "Your seal and cord, and the staff you carry." So he gave them to her and had intercourse with her, and she conceived by him. 38:19 事后，她起来回家，除掉首帕，再穿上她守寡的衣服。
When she went away, she took off her shawl and put on her widow’s garb again. 38:20 犹大托自己的朋友阿杜蓝人送了一只小公山羊去，好由那女人手中取回抵押；他却找不到她，
Judah sent the kid by his friend the Adullamite to recover the pledge from the woman; but he could not find her. 38:21 便问当地人说：「那在厄纳殷路旁的庙妓在那里﹖」人答说：「这里从来没有庙妓。」
So he asked the men of the place, "Where is the temple prostitute, the one by the roadside in Enaim?" But they answered, "There has never been a temple prostitute here." 38:22 他回来对犹大说：「我找不着她，并且当地的人都说：这里从来没有庙妓。」
He went back to Judah and told him, "I could not find her; and besides, the men of the place said there was no temple prostitute there." 38:23 犹大遂说：「让她留着罢!免得我们被人嗤笑。我将小公山羊送了去，可是你没有找着她。」
"Let her keep the things," Judah replied; "otherwise we shall become a laughingstock. After all, I did send her the kid, even though you were unable to find her." 38:24 大约过了三个月，有人告诉犹大说：「你的儿媳塔玛尔与人通奸，而且因通奸有了身孕。犹大说：「把她拉出来烧死!」
About three months later, Judah was told that his daughter-in-law Tamar had played the harlot and was then with child from her harlotry. "Bring her out," cried Judah; "she shall be burned." 38:25 当她被拉出来时，她派人到她公公那里说：「这些东西是谁的，我就是由谁怀了孕。」并且说：「请你仔细看看这些东西：印章、印带和棍杖是谁的﹖」
But as they were bringing her out, she sent word to her father-in-law, "It is by the man to whom these things belong that I am with child. Please verify," she added, "whose seal and cord and whose staff these are." 38:26 犹大仔细一看，就说：「她比我更有理，因为我尚没有将她嫁给我的儿子舍拉。」他从此以后，再没有认识她。
Judah recognized them and said, "She is more in the right than I am, since I did not give her to my son Shelah." But he had no further relations with her. 38:27 到了她要生产的时候，腹中竟是一对双胎。
When the time of her delivery came, she was found to have twins in her womb. 38:28 她正生产时，一个胎儿伸出一手来，收生婆就拿了一根朱红线系在他手上说：「这个是先出生的。」
While she was giving birth, one infant put out his hand; and the midwife, taking a crimson thread, tied it on his hand, to note that this one came out first. 38:29 但是他一收回手去，他的兄弟就出生了；收生婆说：「你为自己开了个怎样的裂口!」遂给他起名叫培勒兹。
But as he withdrew his hand, his brother came out; and she said, "What a breach you have made for yourself!" So he was called Perez. 38:30 以后，那手上系有朱红线的兄弟也出生了，遂给他起名叫则辣黑。
Afterward his brother came out; he was called Zerah.