Judah

Moreouer shee conceiued againe and bare a sonne, saying, Nowe will I prayse the Lord: therefore shee called his name Iudah, and left bearing.

The sonnes of Leah: Reuben Iaakobs eldest sonne, and Simeon, and Leui, and Iudah, and Issachar, and Zebulun.

Then Iudah said vnto his brethren, What auaileth it, if we slay our brother, though wee keepe his blood secret?

And at that time Iudah went downe from his brethren, and turned in to a man called Hirah an Adullamite.

And Iudah sawe there the daughter of a man called Suah a Canaanite: and he tooke her to wife, and went in vnto her.

Then Iudah tooke a wife to Er his first borne sonne whose name was Tamar.

Now Er the first borne of Iudah was wicked in the sight of the Lord: therefore the Lord slewe him.

Then Iudah said to Onan, Goe in vnto thy brothers wife, and do the office of a kinsman vnto her, and raise vp seede vnto thy brother.

Then said Iudah to Tamar his daughter in lawe, Remaine a widowe in thy fathers house, till Shelah my sonne growe vp (for he thought thus, Least he die as well as his brethren.) So Tamar went and dwelt in her fathers house.

And in processe of time also the daughter of Shuah Iudahs wife dyed. Then Iudah, when he had left mourning, went vp to his sheepe sherers to Timnah, he, and his neighbour Hirah the Adullamite.

When Iudah sawe her, he iudged her an whore: for she had couered her face.

Afterwarde Iudah sent a kid of the goates by the hande of his neighbour the Adullamite, for to receiue his pledge from the womans hand: but he found her not.

He came therefore to Iudah againe, and said, I can not finde her, and also the men of the place said, There was no whore there.

Then Iudah said, Let her take it to her, lest we be shamed: beholde, I sent this kid, and thou hast not found her.

Now after three moneths, one tolde Iudah, saying, Tamar thy daughter in law hath played the whore, and lo, with playing the whore, she is great with childe. Then Iudah saide, Bring ye her foorth and let her be burnt.

Then Iudah knewe them, and said, She is more righteous then I: for she hath done it because I gaue her not to Shelah my sonne. So he lay with her no more.

And Iudah answered him, saying, The man charged vs by an othe, saying, Neuer see my face, except your brother be with you.

Then sayde Iudah to Israel his father, Send the boy with mee, that we may rise and goe, and that we may liue and not dye, both we, and thou, and our children.

So Iudah and his brethren came to Iosephs house (for he was yet there) and they fel before him on the ground.

Then sayd Iudah, What shall we say vnto my lord? what shall we speake? and howe can we iustifie our selues? God hath found out the wickednesse of thy seruants: beholde, we are seruants to my Lord, both wee, and he, with whome the cuppe is founde.

Then Iudah drewe neere vnto him, and sayde, O my Lord, let thy seruant nowe speake a worde in my lordes eares, and let not thy wrath be kindled against thy seruant: for thou art euen as Pharaoh.

Also the sonnes of Iudah: Er, and Onan, and Shelah, and Pharez, and Zerah: (but Er and Onan died in ye land of Canaan) And the sonnes of Pharez were Hezron and Hamul.

The he sent Iudah before him vnto Ioseph, to direct his way vnto Goshen, and they came into the land of Goshen.

Thou Iudah, thy brethre shall praise thee: thine hande shalbe in the necke of thine enemies: thy fathers sonnes shall bowe downe vnto thee.

Iudah, as a Lions whelpe shalt thou come vp from the spoyle, my sonne. He shall lye downe and couche as a Lion, and as a Lionesse: Who shall stirre him vp?