Discovery BoxGenesis 37:7 
Context37:7 There we were, 1 binding sheaves of grain in the middle of the field. Suddenly my sheaf rose up and stood upright and your sheaves surrounded my sheaf and bowed down 2 to it!”
Genesis 38:26
Context38:26 Judah recognized them and said, “She is more upright 3 than I am, because I wouldn’t give her to Shelah my son.” He did not have sexual relations with her 4 again.
1 tn All three clauses in this dream report begin with וְהִנֵּה (vÿhinneh, “and look”), which lends vividness to the report. This is represented in the translation by the expression “there we were.”
2 tn The verb means “to bow down to the ground.” It is used to describe worship and obeisance to masters.
3 tn Traditionally “more righteous”; cf. NCV, NRSV, NLT “more in the right.”
sn She is more upright than I. Judah had been irresponsible and unfaithful to his duty to see that the family line continued through the levirate marriage of his son Shelah. Tamar fought for her right to be the mother of Judah’s line. When she was not given Shelah and Judah’s wife died, she took action on her own to ensure that the line did not die out. Though deceptive, it was a desperate and courageous act. For Tamar it was within her rights; she did nothing that the law did not entitle her to do. But for Judah it was wrong because he thought he was going to a prostitute. See also Susan Niditch, “The Wronged Woman Righted: An Analysis of Genesis 38,” HTR 72 (1979): 143-48.
4 tn Heb “and he did not add again to know her.” Here “know” is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.
