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The Testament of Judah Concerning Fortitude, and Love of Money, and Fornication

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Section 12

About this work

Author: Unknown

12. And after these things, while

‹ Section 11 Section 13 ›

Tamar

was

a

widow

,

she

heard

after

two

years

that

I

was

going

up

to

shear

my

sheep

;

then

she

decked

herself

in

bridal

array

,

and

sat

over

against

the

city

by

the

gate

.

For

it

is

a

law

of

the

Amorites

,

that

she

who

is

about

to

marry

sit

in

fornication

seven

days

by

the

gate

.

I

therefore

,

being

drunk

at

the

waters

of

Chozeb

,

recognised

her

not

by

reason

of

wine

;

and

her

beauty

deceived

me

,

through

the

fashion

of

her

adorning

.

And

I

turned

aside

to

her

,

and

said

,

I

would

enter

in

to

thee

.

And

she

said

to

me

,

What

wilt

thou

give

me

?

And

I

gave

her

my

staff

,

and

my

girdle

,

and

my

royal

crown

;

and

I

lay

with

her

,

and

she

conceived

.

I

then

,

not

knowing

what

she

had

done

,

wished

to

slay

her

;

but

she

privily

sent

my

pledges

,

and

put

me

to

shame

.

And

when

I

called

her

,

I

heard

also

the

secret

words

which

I

spoke

when

lying

with

her

in

my

drunkenness

;

and

I

could

not

slay

her

,

because

it

was

from

the

Lord

.

For

I

said

,

Lest

haply

she

did

it

in

subtlety

,

and

received

the

pledge

from

another

woman

:

but

I

came

near

her

no

more

till

my

death

,

because

I

had

done

this

abomination

in

all

Israel

.

Moreover

,

they

who

were

in

the

city

said

that

there

was

no

bride

in

the

city

,

because

she

came

from

another

place

,

and

sat

for

awhile

in

the

gate

,

and

she

thought

that

no

one

knew

that

I

had

gone

in

to

her

.

And

after

this

we

came

into

Egypt

to

Joseph

,

because

of

the

famine

.

Forty

and

six

years

old

was

I

,

and

seventy

and

three

years

lived

I

there

.

Notes

14
[Herod. i., cap. 199; Baruch vi. 43.]
15
[To this section Lardner objects. But compare Gen. xxxviii. 12.]