When Judah saw her, he thought that she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face.
Parallel Translations
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When Judah saw her, he thought that she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face.
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When Judah saw her, he thought her to be an harlot; because she had covered her face.
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When Judah saw her, he thought her to be a harlot; for she had covered her face.
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Explain this verse (10 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 15. When Judah saw her. It was a great…
15. When Judah saw her. It was a great disgrace to Judah that he hastily desired intercourse with an unknown woman. He was now old; and therefore age alone, even in a lascivious man, ought to have restrained the fervor of intemperance. He sees the woman at a distance, and it is not possible that he should have been captivated by her beauty. The lust kindles him as a stallion neighs when it smells a mare. Hence we gather, that the fear of God, or a regard to justice and prosperity, cannot have flourished greatly in the heart of one who thus eagerly breaks forth to the indulgence of his passions. He is therefore set before us as an example, that we may learn how easily the lust of the flesh would break forth, unless the Lord should restrain it; and thus, conscious of our infirmity, let us desire from the Lord, a spirit of continence and moderation. But lest the same security should steal over us, which caused Judah to precipitate himself into fornication; let us mark, that the dishonor which Judah sustained in consequence of his incest, was a punishment divinely inflicted upon him. Who then will indulge in a crime which he sees, by this dreadful kind of vengeance, to be so very hateful to God?
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Gen 38:15 When Judah saw her, he thought her…
Gen 38:15 When Judah saw her, he thought her [to be] an harlot; because she had covered her face.
Ver. 15. He thought her to be an harlot.] Because she sat in an open place: first, In bivio, saith Junius, where there is liberty of looking every way; the guise and garb of harlots. {Pro 7:12; Pro 9:14 Eze 16:24-25} Next, she sat covered: whores were not altogether so shameless then as now: they shun not to be seen with bold and bare faces, breasts, and wrists. {a} Such a sight may soon inflame a Judah; nay, occasion a Job to break his covenant. {Job 31:1} The ivy bush showeth there is wine within: which, though no evil follow upon it; yet the party shall be damned, saith Jerome, because she offered poison to others, though none would drink it. See Isa 3:16.
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Because she had covered her face.] Some read, Because she had coloured or painted her face. But that he knew her not by her voice one would wonder. Surely, he was so set upon the satisfying of his lust that he minded nothing else. Lust is blind; "and if the blind lead the blind," &c.
{a} Hos 2:2 - "Let her take away her fornication from her face, and her adultery from between her breasts"; laid out, and painted, or patched.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain And was doubtless careful not to discover herself by…
And was doubtless careful not to discover herself by her voice.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And he turned unto her by the way,.... Which…
And he turned unto her by the way,.... Which led to her; he turned out of the way in which he was to that where she sat; and very probably it was at some little distance from the way, and therefore he turned aside to it, his lust towards her being excited at the sight of her; perhaps he left his friend Hirah the Adullamite, and sent him on his way, while he committed the following crime:
and said, go to, I pray thee, let me come in unto thee; that is, lie with her:
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for he knew not that she was his daughter in law; or otherwise, it is suggested by the historian, he would not have offered such a thing to her; but though this may excuse him from wilful incest, yet not from fornication; for he took her to be an harlot, and however knew she was not his wife, and whom he ought not to have had any concern with in such a manner:
and she said, what wilt thou give me, that thou mayest come in unto me? perhaps she said this with a very low voice, that he might not know her by it; and she behaved like an harlot by requiring an hire, on condition of which she consented: she knew Judah though he did not know her, and therefore cannot be excused from wilful incest: some indeed extenuate her crime, by supposing that she, though a Canaanite, was become a proselyte to the true religion by marrying into Judah's family, and had knowledge of the Messiah being to be born of Jacob's line; and therefore was desirous of being the mother or ancestor at least of that great Person, and so took this method; that since she could not have the son for her husband, was desirous of enjoying the father, not for the gratification of her lust, but in hopes of the promised seed; and accordingly she has a place in the genealogy of the Messiah, Mat 1:3.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 15. Thought her to be a harlot] See…
Verse 15. Thought her to be a harlot] See the original of this term, Ge 34:31. The Hebrew is זונה zonah, and signifies generally a person who prostitutes herself to the public for hire, or one who lives by the public; and hence very likely applied to a publican, a tavern-keeper, or hostess, Jos 2:1; translated by the Septuagint, and in the New Testament, πορνη, from περναω, to sell, which certainly may as well apply to her goods as to her person.
It appears that in very ancient times there were public persons of this description; and they generally veiled themselves, sat in public places by the highway side, and received certain hire. Though adultery was reputed a very flagrant crime, yet this public prostitution was not; for persons whose characters were on the whole morally good had connections with them. But what could be expected from an age in which there was no written Divine revelation, and consequently the bounds of right and wrong were not sufficiently ascertained? This defect was supplied in a considerable measure by the law and the prophets, and now completely by the Gospel of Christ.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 15. A harlot — The word here used is…
15. A harlot — The word here used is זונה, the common Hebrew word for harlot. But Judah’s friend Hirah uses (Gen_38:21) a different word, though our translators have rendered it just the same. There the Hebrew word is קדשׁה, a consecrated woman, that is, a woman consecrated to Astarte, the Canaanitish Venus; one who prostituted herself in the name of religion. Thus it appears that this abominable worship was at that time prevalent in Canaan, and Judah had become acquainted with its ways, though he did not call the woman thus devoted by the word that designated her as one sacred to Astarte. He regarded her as a prostitute, because she had covered her face, and he had come to know that this was the practice of women thus consecrated to lust. But to him she was only a harlot, while to his friend she was supposed to be a kedeshah.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 15. covered her face] Cf. Pro_7:10. The attire indicated…
15. covered her face] Cf. Pro_7:10. The attire indicated the character she had assumed.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (15) Because she had covered her face.—The Jewish commentators…
(15) Because she had covered her face.—The Jewish commentators all agree that this was not the custom of harlots; and as Judah, in Gen_38:21, calls her kedeshah, one consecrated, he probably thought that she was a woman performing the vow required of every female votary of the Phœnician Venus (Astarte), once in her lifetime (Herod. i. 199). Hence the hire was a kid to be sacrificed to the goddess. As for Tamar her object was to assert her claim to the inheritance of ‘Er. Lange considers that the wickedness of ‘Er had caused him, equally with Onan, to neglect her, and that consequently there was no real incest. This is made probable by her immediate conception.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain When (literally, and) Judah saw her, he (literally, and…
When (literally, and) Judah saw her, he (literally, and he) thought her to be a harlot; literally, thought her (i.e. took her for) a harlot, like logizesqai tina de r (cf. 1Sa_1:13; Job_13:24) or to hnwOz (fem. part. of hnz; commit fornication); vide Gen_34:31because she had covered her face more meretricis.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 because she had covered her face
because she had covered her face
Judah did not think she was a prostitute just because her face was covered but also because she was sitting in the gate. AT: "because she had covered her head and sat where prostitutes often sat" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
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He went to her by the road
Tamar was sitting by the road. AT: "He went to where she was sitting by the road" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
Come, please
"Come with me, please" or "Come now, please"
When Judah saw her
"When Judah saw Tamar"
his daughter-in-law
"his son's wife"
translationWords
prostitute
had relations with
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.