The town in the Judean lowlands (the Shephelah) where Judah 'went down' and took up with Hirah, his friend and go-between in the affair with Tamar (38:1, 12, 20). Identified with Tell esh-Sheikh Madhkur, in the hill country between the coastal plain and Hebron. Its cave will later shelter DAVID — a descendant of the twins conceived in this chapter — when he flees Saul and four hundred desperate men gather to him there (1 Samuel 22:1-2).