Discovery BoxGenesis 38:11 
Context38:11 Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Live as a widow in your father’s house until Shelah my son grows up.” For he thought, 1 “I don’t want him to die like his brothers.” 2 So Tamar went and lived in her father’s house.
Genesis 44:16
Context44:16 Judah replied, “What can we say 3 to my lord? What can we speak? How can we clear ourselves? 4 God has exposed the sin of your servants! 5 We are now my lord’s slaves, we and the one in whose possession the cup was found.”
1 tn Heb “said.”
2 tn Heb “Otherwise he will die, also he, like his brothers.”
sn I don’t want him to die like his brothers. This clause explains that Judah had no intention of giving Shelah to Tamar for the purpose of the levirate marriage. Judah apparently knew the nature of his sons, and feared that God would be angry with the third son and kill him as well.
3 tn The imperfect verbal form here indicates the subject’s potential.
4 tn The Hitpael form of the verb צָדֵק (tsadeq) here means “to prove ourselves just, to declare ourselves righteous, to prove our innocence.”
5 sn God has exposed the sin of your servants. The first three questions are rhetorical; Judah is stating that there is nothing they can say to clear themselves. He therefore must conclude that they have been found guilty.
