Bible Strands
Genesis 38:23
“Let her keep the items,” Judah replied. “Otherwise we will become a laughingstock. After all, I did send her this young goat, but you could not find her.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Judah addresses his servants after they report failing to locate the shrine prostitute, instructing them to leave her pledged items where they are. He speaks at the moment between the failed search and the later report of Tamar’s pregnancy.
The words — The imperative תִּֽקַּֽח־ (ti.kach-) commands "let her take [them]," while פֶּן (pen) introduces a warning against becoming לָ/ב֑וּז (la./Vuz), "objects of contempt." Judah grounds this in past action with שָׁלַ֙חְתִּי (sha.Lach.ti), "I sent," confirming the goat was already dispatched.
The thread — The concern over public reproach echoes Proverbs 6:33, which warns that shame and reproach follow folly, and anticipates Romans 6:21, which catalogs the shame produced by past actions.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that preserving one’s reputation can override justice, and that deferred accountability leaves moral disorder unresolved.
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 Judah said, Let her take it to her, lest we be shamed: behold, I sent this kid, and thou hast not found her.
Cross-references
- 2 Samuel 12:9 Why then have you despised the command of the LORD by doing evil in His sight? You put Uriah the Hittite to the sword and took his wife as your own. You have slain him with the sword of the Ammonites.
- Proverbs 6:33 Wounds and dishonor will befall him, and his reproach will never be wiped away.
- Romans 6:21 What fruit did you reap at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? The outcome of those things is death.
- 2 Corinthians 4:2 Instead, we have renounced secret and shameful ways. We do not practice deceit, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by open proclamation of the truth, we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
- Ephesians 5:12 For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.
- Revelation 16:15 “Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who remains awake and clothed, so that he will not go naked and let his shame be exposed.”