Bible Strands
Genesis 38:17
“I will send you a young goat from my flock,” Judah answered. But she replied, “Only if you leave me something as a pledge until you send it.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Judah speaks to Tamar, whom he does not recognize as his widowed daughter-in-law, after she asks what payment he will give for sexual relations. She responds by demanding a pledge to hold until he delivers the promised payment.
The words — The Hebrew verb אֲשַׁלַּח (ashaLLach) means “I will send,” and גְּדִי עִזִּים (gedi izzim) translates literally as “a kid of goats.” These terms anchor Judah’s offer of a specific financial guarantee for the encounter.
The thread — Judah later dispatches his friend Hirah with the young goat to retrieve the pledged items (Genesis 38:20), while Ezekiel 16:33 contrasts this transactional arrangement with the prophetic accusation that Israel’s lovers demanded bribes rather than offering them.
Why it lands — The verse records a concrete exchange where a pledge secures a promised payment, demanding that readers track how conditional agreements operate within familial and covenantal breakdowns.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And he said, I will send thee a kid from the flock. And she said, Wilt thou give me a pledge, till thou send it?
Cross-references
- Genesis 38:20 Now when Judah sent his friend Hirah the Adullamite with the young goat to collect the items he had left with the woman, he could not find her.
- Ezekiel 16:33 Men give gifts to all their prostitutes, but you gave gifts to all your lovers. You bribed them to come to you from everywhere for your illicit favors.
- Genesis 38:24 About three months later, Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has prostituted herself, and now she is pregnant.” “Bring her out!” Judah replied. “Let her be burned to death!”
- Proverbs 20:16 Take the garment of the one who posts security for a stranger; get collateral if it is for a foreigner.
- Luke 16:8 The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the sons of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the sons of light.