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 and went to stay with a man named Hirah, who was from the town of Adullam. 2 There Judah met a young Canaanite woman whose father was named Shua. He married her, 3 and she bore him a son, whom he named Er. 4 She became pregnant again and bore another son and named him Onan. 5 Again she had a son and named him Shelah. Judah was at Achzib when the boy was born.
6 For his first son Er, Judah got a wife whose name was Tamar. 7 Er's conduct was evil, and it displeased the Lord, so the Lord killed him. 8 Then Judah said to Er's brother Onan, “Go and sleep with your brother's widow. Fulfill your obligation to her as her husband's brother, so that your brother may have descendants.” 9 But Onan knew that the children would not belong to him, so when he had intercourse with his brother's widow, he let the semen spill on the ground, so that there would be no children for his brother. 10 What he did displeased the Lord, and the Lord killed him also. 11 Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Return to your father's house and remain a widow until my son Shelah grows up.” He said this because he was afraid that Shelah would be killed, as his brothers had been. So Tamar went back home.
12 After some time Judah's wife died. When he had finished the time of mourning, he and his friend Hirah of Adullam went to Timnah, where his sheep were being sheared. 13 Someone told Tamar that her father-in-law was going to Timnah to shear his sheep. 14 So she changed from the widow's clothes she had been wearing, covered her face with a veil, and sat down at the entrance to Enaim, a town on the road to Timnah. As she well knew, Judah's youngest son Shelah was now grown up, and yet she had not been given to him in marriage.
15 When Judah saw her, he thought that she was a prostitute, because she had her face covered. 16 He went over to her at the side of the road and said, “All right, how much do you charge?” (He did not know that she was his daughter-in-law.)
She said, “What will you give me?”
17 He answered, “I will send you a young goat from my flock.”
She said, “All right, if you will give me something to keep as a pledge until you send the goat.”
18 “What shall I give you as a pledge?” he asked.
She answered, “Your seal with its cord and the walking stick you are carrying.” He gave them to her. Then they had intercourse, and she became pregnant. 19 Tamar went home, took off her veil, and put her widow's clothes back on.
20 Judah sent his friend Hirah to take the goat and get back from the woman the articles he had pledged, but Hirah could not find her. 21 He asked some men at Enaim, “Where is the prostitute who was here by the road?”
“There has never been a prostitute here,” they answered.
22 He returned to Judah and said, “I couldn't find her. The men of the place said that there had never been a prostitute there.”
23 Judah said, “Let her keep the things. We don't want people to laugh at us. I did try to pay her, but you couldn't find her.”
24 About three months later someone told Judah, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has been acting like a whore, and now she is pregnant.”
Judah ordered, “Take her out and burn her to death.”
25 As she was being taken out, she sent word to her father-in-law: “I am pregnant by the man who owns these things. Look at them and see whose they are—this seal with its cord and this walking stick.”
26 Judah recognized them and said, “She is in the right. I have failed in my obligation to her—I should have given her to my son Shelah in marriage.” And Judah never had intercourse with her again.
27 When the time came for her to give birth, it was discovered that she was going to have twins. 28 While she was in labor, one of them put out an arm; the midwife caught it, tied a red thread around it, and said, “This one was born first.” 29 But he pulled his arm back, and his brother was born first. Then the midwife said, “So this is how you break your way out!” So he was named Perez. 30 Then his brother was born with the red thread on his arm, and he was named Zerah.
