Genesis 38 is about Judah and his daughter-in-law, Tamar. Judah's son , Er, was a wicked man and the Lord took his life, leaving his wife, Tamar, a widow. So, Judah asked another son, Onan, to take her as his wife, so that Tamar could have a child to be Er's heir, as their laws required. But, the Lord also took the life of Onan, since he also behaved wickedly and prevented Tamar from conceiving a child. Then, Judah told Tamar to go live with her parents and remain a widow until Judah's youngest son, Shelah, was old enough to marry her. However, Judah didn't really intend to give Shelah to marry Tamar, for fear that he too would die like his brothers. After some time, Tamar was aware that Shelah had grown up, but Judah had not called her to marry him, so she disguised herself as a prostitute and fooled Judah into propositioning her to sleep with him. Judah's payment was a young goat, but Tamar asked for a pledge that he would send it back to her later. So, Judah left a few of his personal belongings ( identification seal, cord, walking stick, etc.) that he was carring. Later, Judah's servants could not find her when they brought her the young goat for payment, and the town's people denied that they had any prostitute there. Bewildered, Judah said " Let her keep my pledge items! We tried our best to send her the goat", and they left. About three months later, Judah heard that Tamar was pregnant as a result of prostitution and he said she must be then executed. But, she said to everyone, "The man who owns these pledge items is the father-- Do you recognize them?" Judah then admitted they were his and said, "She is more in the right than I am, because I didn't keep my promise to let her marry my son, Shelah."