Juda naTamar
1 Mefimbo tuu olo Juda okwa dja po povamwaxe nokwa ya komulumenhu womuAdullam nedina laye Hira. 2 Ndele Juda okwa mona ko omona okakadona komulumenhu Omukaanan nedina lako oSua. Ye okwe mu hombola ndele okwa nangala naye. 3 Ndele ye okwa ninga oufimba nokwa dala okaana okamati, ndele Juda okwe ka luka Er. 4 Okwa ninga vali oufimba nokwa dala okaana okamati ndele Juda okwe ka luka Onan. 5 Ndele ye okwa dala vali okaana okamati ndele Juda omwalikadi e ka luka Shela. Ndele okwa li muKesib eshi e ka dala. 6 Ndele Juda okwa kongela oshiveli shaye, Er, omwalikadi, nedina laye oTamar. 7 Ndelenee Er, oshiveli shaJuda, inashi wapalela Kalunga. Onghee Omwene okwe mu efa a fye. 8 Opo nee Juda okwa tya kuOnan: “Inda u ka nangale nomwalikadi wamumwanyoko u mu hombole u etele mumwanyoko oludalo.” 9 Ndelenee Onan okwa li e shi shii nokutya, oludalo itali ka ninga laye, onghee hano keshe efimbo a nangala nomwalikadi wamumwaina, ine mu xuxwila a etele mumwaina oludalo. 10 Ndele eshi sha ningwa kuye, oshii momesho Omwene. Onghee Ye okwe mu efa a fye. 11 Opo nee Juda okwa tya kuTamar oshitenya shaye: “Kala ngaashi omufiyekadi meumbo laxo fiyo omona wange Shela ta kulu. Osheshi ye a diladila: ‘Naau yo kashiimba ota fi ngaashi ovamwaina!’ ” Osho ngaha Tamar a ya a ka kale meumbo laxe.
12 Ndele eshi pa pita efimbo lile, omona okakadona kaSua, omwalikadi waJuda, okwa fya; efimbo lokulila eefya eshi la pwa, ye okwa ya kuTimna, ye pamwe nakaume kaye Hira, Omuadullam, a ka talele po ovakululi veedi. 13 Ndele vo ova shiivifila Tamar, ndele tava ti kuye: “Tala, xomweno ota i kuTimna a ka kulule eedi daye.” 14 Opo nee ye okwe lidula oikutu youfiyekadi waye nokwe liuvikila oshiuvikifo nokwe lidingila nasho. Ndele ye okwa ya a ka kale omutumba poshivelo shaEnaim, shi li pondjila yaTimna. Osheshi ye okwa mona nokutya Shela okwa kula, ndelenee ye ine mu pewa omwalikadi waye. 15 Juda eshi e mu mona, okwa li e shi ye omulandifi woipala, shaashi okwa uvika oshipala shaye; 16 ndele ye okwa ya kuye pomunghulo wondjila ndele ta ti: “Tu nangale fye naave,” osheshi ye ina shiiva nokutya ye oshitenya shaye. Ndele ye okwa pula: “Oto pe nge shike ngeenge to nangala naame?” 17 Ndele ye okwa nyamukula ta ti: “Ame ohandi ku tumine okakombo kohambo koimuna.” Opo ye ta ti: “Shapo oto pe nge ombabyona, fimbo to ka tumine nge?” 18 Ndele ye ta ti: “Ombabyona oyashike ngeno handi ku pe?” Opo nee ye a nyamukula ta ti: “Oshihakolinga shoye nokanyemba kasho nodibo yoye, ei i li meke loye.” Ye okwe i mu pa ndele okwa nangala naye, ndele winya okwa pewa oufimba kuye. 19 Ndele omukainhu okwa penduka ndele okwa ya ndee te lidula oshiuvikifo ndele ta djala oikutu yaye youfiyekadi.
20 Ndele Juda okwa tuma ko okakombo, e ka pa kaume kaye Omuadullam, e ka fikife ko, opo ye a tambule meke lomwalikadi ombabyona. Ndele ye ine mu mona ko. 21 Opo nee ye a pula kovanhu onhele yaye ta ti: “Omulandifi woipala winya, ha kala pondjila muEnaim oku li peni?” Ndele venya ova nyamukula tava ti: “Apa ihapa kala omulandi woipala.” 22 Opo nee ye a shuna nokwa ya kuJuda ndele ta ti: “Ame inandi mu mona. Novanhu vomonhele inya otava ti: ‘Penya ihapa kala omulandifi woipala.’ ” 23 Opo nee Juda ta ti: “Na kale nayo, fye tuha fifwe ohoni. Tala, ame nde mu tumina okakombo, ndelenee ove ino mu mona.”
24 Ngeno eshi pa pita eehani nhatu, Juda okwa shiivifilwa nokutya: “Tamar, oshitenya shoye okwa haelwa, nokwa ninga oufimba mokuhaelwa!” Ndele Juda okwa nyamukula ta ti: “Mu twaleni ko a ka xwikwe po.” 25 Fimbo ta twalwa okwa shiivifila xemweno ndele ta ti: “Oufimba wange owomulumenhu woinima ei!” Ndele ye okwa tya: “Tala hano nawa oshihakolinga eshi nokanyemba aka nodibo ei kutya oyalyelye?” 26 Ndele Juda okwe i tala ndele ta ti: “Ye omuyuki e dule nge, osheshi ame inandi mu pa omumwange omumati Shela.” Ndele ye ina endafana vali naye.
27 Ndele ye eshi kwa li e na okudala, medimo laye mwa li epasha. 28 Ndele fimbo ta dala, kamwe oka eta eke lako, nomudalifi okwe li kwata nokwa mangela ko olufipa litilyana ndele a tya: “Aka oko ka dalwa tete.” 29 Ndelenee ko eshi ka shunifa mo eke lako, omumwaina okwa dalwa. Ndee ye okwa tya: “Ove we lieta mo ngahelipi!” Ndele vo ove ka luka Peres. 30 Opo nee mumwaina, ou a li e nolufipa litilyana meke laye, okwa dalwa; ndele ve mu luka Sera.
Judah and Tamar
1 About that time Judah left his brothers in the hill country and went to live near his friend Hirah in the town of Adullam. 2 While there he met the daughter of Shua, a Canaanite man. Judah married her, 3 and they had three sons. He named the first one Er; 4 she named the next one Onan. 5 The third one was born when Judah was in Chezib, and she named him Shelah.
6 Later, Judah chose Tamar as a wife for Er, his oldest son. 7 But Er was very evil, and the Lord took his life. 8 So Judah told Onan, “It's your duty to marry Tamar and have a child for your brother.”
9 Onan knew the child would not be his, and when he had sex with Tamar, he made sure that she would not get pregnant. 10 The Lord wasn't pleased with Onan and took his life too.
11 Judah did not want the same thing to happen to his son Shelah, and he told Tamar, “Go home to your father and live there as a widow until my son Shelah is grown.” So Tamar went to live with her father.
12 Some years later Judah's wife died, and he mourned for her. He then went with his friend Hirah to the town of Timnah, where his sheep were being sheared. 13 Tamar found out that her father-in-law Judah was going to Timnah to shear his sheep. 14 She also realized that Shelah was now a grown man, but she had not been allowed to marry him. So she decided to dress in something other than her widow's clothes and to cover her face with a veil. After this, she sat outside the town of Enaim on the road to Timnah.
15 When Judah came along, he did not recognize her because of the veil. He thought she was a prostitute 16 and asked her to sleep with him. She asked, “What will you give me if I do?”
17 “One of my young goats,” he answered.
“What will you give me to keep until you send the goat?” she asked.
18 “What do you want?” he asked in return.
“The ring on that cord around your neck,” was her reply. “I also want the special walking stick you have with you.” He gave them to her, they slept together, and she became pregnant.
19 After returning home, Tamar took off the veil and dressed in her widow's clothes again.
20 Judah asked his friend Hirah take a goat to the woman, so he could get back the ring and walking stick, but she wasn't there. 21 Hirah asked the people of Enaim, “Where is the prostitute who sat along the road outside your town?”
“There's never been one here,” they answered.
22 Hirah went back and told Judah, “I couldn't find the woman, and the people of Enaim said no prostitute had ever been there.”
23 “If you couldn't find her, we'll just let her keep the things I gave her,” Judah answered. “And we'd better forget about the goat, or else we'll look like fools.”
24 About three months later someone told Judah, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has behaved like a prostitute, and now she's pregnant!”
“Drag her out of town and burn her to death!” Judah shouted.
25 As Tamar was being dragged off, she sent someone to tell her father-in-law, “The man who gave me this ring, this cord, and this walking stick is the one who got me pregnant.”
26 “Those are mine!” Judah admitted. “She's a better person than I am, because I broke my promise to let her marry my son Shelah.” After this, Judah never slept with her again.
27-28 Tamar later gave birth to twins. But before either of them was born, one of them stuck a hand out of her womb. The woman who was helping tied a red thread around the baby's hand and explained, “This one came out first.”
29 At once his hand went back in, and the other child was born first. The woman then said, “What an opening you've made for yourself!” So they named the baby Perez. 30 When the brother with the red thread was born, they named him Zerah.
